I have a horrible, horrible disease. It’s called Toy Snobbery. I can’t stand a toy that does all the kids’ imagining for them. Flashing lights? No. High-pitched dinging songs? Hate. Remote control? Nay, I say! Nay! 

I admit to being a jerk and a snoot, but I prefer wooden blocks, dolls, dress-up clothes, and art supplies. I want my nephew and niece (and all the other babies that I adopt as my own) to have something that they can actually play with…not something that plays with them. 

SPOILER ALERT! Jessie, don’t tell Andrew about the following:
This year, my nephew will be getting pirate coins, cool chopsticks, and lots of modeling clay. See what I did there? These are simple pleasures that cause him to be creative. Okay, the chopsticks are because he always ask me to buy him sushi. However, please take note that nothing there is a one-trick pony. He can use the pirate coins to play pirates in the bathtub, to search for buried treasure with his friends, or even to jangle in his cup while begging for alms. He doesn’t have to just eat with those chopsticks…heck, he can make a pinch pot with them and his new clay. The world is his oyster, people.

So, while you’re out looking for all the battery-operated, light-up, plastic, recalled twenty times until a kid could never conceive of getting a scratch toys…don’t forget that kids actually LIKE to think.

See? I’m a total toy snob.