The first rule of uncling (or aunting) is to never show up empty handed. In a fit of nostalgia I bought my niece a Pound Puppy. I was thrilled to find that 1) that they were still around and 2) they weren’t altered in any way (See Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for further explanation). They even had the old school boxes with the front half of the puppy sticking out. I picked out the cutest one I could find and scurried back to Texas certain I’d be passing on one of the happy memories of my childhood. I now reenact for you, The Moment of the Gifting…
J: Look what Uncle J got for you!
T: How do you turn it on?
J: It doesn’t turn on, Sweetie. It’s a Pound Puppy. Your daddy and I used to play with these.
T: What does it do?
J: Sorry Taylor, it’s just a stuffed animal.
T: *walks away confused with strange, non-interactive thingy*
Of course I’m not upset. She’s three. But somewhere inside me there’s a little old man screaming, “When I was your age, I played with sticks!!!”
Ahh the digital age.
– J
The Rambling J 
January 24, 2009 at 11:35 am |
Oh, J!
It will make more sense to her once she’s been around it for a while–who can resist a Pound Puppy?
Now you have me trying to remember what my favorite toy was when I was three–it was either (don’t you dare laugh!) my Hello Kitty bank, my glowworm (yay, interactivity!), or my book-where-Mickey-walks-in-the-snow (I absolutely cannot remember what the *actual* story was, but I clearly remember the pictures, and what I decided it *should* be).
And, just to be fair, a few parting thoughts. . .
1. Given the opportunity, you would probably *still* play with sticks. They make the best swords (or guns, or lightsabers, or. . . well, anything.)
2. Dude–Taylor comes by it honestly. Who was the one confessing to a Guitar Hero addiction the other day? Umm-hmm. Busted!
January 24, 2009 at 1:06 pm |
Makes you feel old huh?! This reminded me of something that happened at Thanksgiving between me and my cousin’s 5 yr old daughter. In preparation for kids coming to the house we had picked out kid friendly movies (VHS and DVD) and had them out in the living room. Ellie came to me with a Muppet VHS and asked if I could put it on for her. The following conversation actually happened:
Ellie: Can we watch the movie now?
Me: It will be just a minute, it’s rewinding.
Ellie: *blank stare* is that like uploading?
The kid didn’t know what rewinding is. I am so old! This generation will grow up not ever having heard the phrase “Be kind, rewind”. I wonder if it’s kinda like our generation and 8-tracks?
And J – you for got to add ” … we played with sticks and we liked it!! We loved it!! *insert Dana Carvey improv here*”
January 24, 2009 at 8:21 pm |
Cas – That’s absolutely hysterical!! I was trying to think of a way to work Dana in for you… The title was going to be “Aaaaaand we liked it!” but I didn’t think enough people would get the reference.
January 26, 2009 at 10:22 am |
Re: Dana references: I would have gotten it. Cass would have gotten it. How much more understanding do you need? 😉
Love this. Funny how it seems to be just the opposite of the stories the parents of our generation tell of getting us fascinating educational toys when we were babies, and watching us have more fun with the box. Like, ahem, the packaging for the video camera.
Reminds me of the story a friend of mine told of being in the car with his seven year old nephew. Nephew’s dad walked over to the door and motioned to roll down the window (the hand-crank motion of a manual window). Once they were on the road, Nephew turned and said, “Uncle, how come people go like this [making the same motion] when they want you to put the window down?” My friend realized this kid had never been in a car that didn’t have power windows.