Toys set free!

When kids grow up, you'd think that they grow out of all their toys.....well, you'd wish....! To be fair...they do grow out of a few but there's always a toy that is too close to their heart to give away. My seven year old who should have grown out of his indoor toys a long time ago, at times still lays out his train tracks turning his room into a mini-Island of Sodor! You can imagine how annoyed I'd be when I return home from work to find every inch of floor space in his room covered with tracks.....set up by a kid who's way past the age limit meant for such toys! Abhay  still had so many toys meant for toddlers and pre-schoolers that we got him to reluctantly donate a few to a nearby orphanage. But there were still many of his branded toys (which took up most of the shipping space as we were foolish enough to assume that they were not available in India!) that we'd found it difficult to get rid of, partly because of the reluctance on the part of everyone from Abhay to Abhay's grandma to let go of toys that have cost a pretty penny plus the added discomfort in being mistaken when you offer hand-me-downs to known friends and relatives. Anyway, over the weekend, we managed to find a suitable home for some of our prized toys! Surprisingly, Abhay willingly gave away his Vrtech laptop, leap frog word prompter and the antique looking wooden railway tracks to his younger cousins, genuinely pleased that the toys he once so enjoyed would now make someone else happy! But all said and done, he wasn't yet ready to make that call for his Thomas set! :-(

 

Today's prompt for the 30 books in 30 days challenge being "Toys", I could not but agree with Bubbleink that Mo Willems' Knuffle Bunny series couldn't have been more appropriate. Since I've already featured Knuffle Bunny earlier on Onestoryaday, I was looking for something else but I couldn't lay my hands on any book appropriate for Abhay. But since books like Knuffle Bunny are the very reason I started blogging on Onestoryaday and the third book in the series particularly being Abhay's favourite (which took minimal shipping space), we decided to revisit the book and repost on Onestoryaday as an exception! My last post on Knuffle Bunny was three years ago, and the very fact that I still read it to Abhay is only proof of its enduring theme and how it works on so many layers! In fact, Abhay is now all the more able to relate to the sentiment behind "Knuffle Bunny free -An unexpected diversion ". As Trixie finally comes to terms with the loss of her Knuffle Bunny on the flight to her grandparents' place, she accidentally finds it on her flight back in the same place as she had left it.  While she rejoices in this reunion, she also realizes that it's time to move on and let someone else more deserving enjoy the company of Knuffle Bunny and places him in the hands of a bawling baby seated behind them, with her proud parents looking on! So Knuffle Bunny who had been an inseparable part of Trixie's life now becomes another's inseparable comfort toy! Today as we read this book, Abhay declared that he doesn't need toys anymore as he is happy to have his parents...... To which my husband retorted "So that we can buy him more toys!" :-)

 

12/06/2010 - Comfort Toy

Almost every kid has a soft toy that he or she is deeply attached to and cannot live without. If by chance the soft toy is misplaced….all hell breaks loose at home!!! Sounds familiar??

Of course there have been numerous stories on a child’s comfort toy. One story that my son and I took an instant liking to is the Knuffle Bunny series by Mo Willems. In fact when I read “ Knuffle Bunny – A cautionary tale” the first book in the series….I thought he had already outgrown that phase……but I later discovered it was lying dormant in him only to be reawakened by this book.

I don’t mean to complain…but my son did regress back into needing his Winnie the Pooh during bed time post the Knuffle Bunny experience. In fact the Winnie the Pooh was rechristened as 'Knuffle Bunny'!!!

I liked the book in as much as it is a refreshing take on a child’s comfort toy and what happens in the event it goes missing. I enjoyed the first book specially for a realistic portrayal of a mother’s intuitive understanding of her child’s mind that fathers sometime lack. I remember I was so taken in by this book that I insisted on reading it to my husband as soon as he flew back home after a week of travelling on work!!! I know….. I can get a little crazy sometimes…….( my husband may feel “little” is underrated) !!!

The author Mo Willems wonderfully illustrates how as a parent, your day-to day life revolves around your child’s idiosyncrasies!!! This point becomes the highlight in the sequel “ Knuffle Bunny Too - A case of mistaken identity “ which shows how all parents are in the same boat when it comes to being subject to the dictates of their child. The series also traces her growing years starting as a toddler and maturing into a sensitive young girl.

Today we read the last book in the series called “ Knuffle Bunny Free - an unexpected diversion“ which is like a ‘coming of the age‘ book for Trixie, the protagonist. Abhay was super excited to find that he could relate to most lot of the events described therein – getting to the airport to board a long flight to a far -away place where grandparents live……just like his own. He loved the images of grandma and grandpa in the book. But he couldn’t quite comprehend the way it ended. The ending puzzled my four year old son who was left wondering whether the same kind of sacrifice would be demanded of him when it came to his knuffle bunny!!! I guess the ending is a little too mature for his age…may be in couple of years….he’ll be able to understand…or at least I hope so!!!!:-)