A few months ago I joined a Facebook group page where moms help other moms get hard to find Disney items at cost. For the most part, the group page is great. Women go shopping, they find items that they know are hot and pick up some extras, then they post them for sale at retail listing, plus tax, shipping, and Paypal fees. It was a wonderful system that helped stopped the eBay sellers from buying up everything possible to resell for a high profit.
So, as anyone with a daughter who loves Frozen knows, Elsa and Anna items have been particularly hard to find. Now, it’s getting better and things like clothing, posters, and Anna/Olaf toys are pretty readily available. A lot of the Elsa items are still a pain to track down, but it’s becoming more and more doable.
Anyways, Frozen has had some of the most popular merchandise that Disney has ever created. I cannot remember a single other instance in my life where a Disney character was this hot of an item for this length of time. And, because I am a big planner and a religious checker (went to Disney Stores at opening many times, as well as constantly refreshed their website) I didn’t have a lot of difficulty finding the items I wanted for my daughter. Not everyone plans so far ahead, though.
Everyday on the above mentioned Facebook group, I see tons of parents posting sob stories about how their child has a birthday in four days and they are so desperate to get an item “or else the party will be ruined!” Or they’ll say “it’s all my daughter wants, she’ll be devastated if she doesn’t get it!” Wow, aren’t those some major first world problems?
Desperate, devastated, and ruined are some incredibly ridiculous words to use in regards to toys and costumes. Then, you come to find out (through photos posted later) that the children they were freaking out over are 1-4 years old. If a child that age gets a dozen presents and remembers the one item you couldn’t find, you are raising a thankless brat. Really, I know we want to give our kids everything because we can, but what ever happened to the days when we didn’t give our children everything that they wanted, and that was okay? In fact, it built some character and weeded out buying a toy because you could have it and buying a toy because you really, really thought it was special.
I have to admit I’m guilty of this to a degree. I don’t often go on big hunts for items, or freak out if I don’t get one specific item, but I am a clearance junkie, so there have been Xmases and birthdays where I went way overboard due to 75% off super sales. I tend to have black out shopping during Black Friday!
So my kids have a lot, and many times my son will go into the store and see something he likes. He’ll make a case for why he wants it and how awesome it is, and usually I say to put it back until there’s a sale. But, the grandparents are more generous than I am on impulse buys, so there are times when he’ll walk out of the store with the item he suddenly can’t live without, he gets it home, plays with it for a little while, then never touches it again. There was a stent of time where he kept begging for Legos and getting different sets here and there. Well, two years later some of those kits are still in the box, or were thrown into the Lego bin of random parts without ever being put together. Needless to say, I stopped letting him get Legos.
Now, I could be incredibly mistaken, but I don’t think there are many kids who want everything they see long term.
I suppose if there’s a moral or point to this blog, it’s that parents need to calm down about fulfilling their children’s wish lists. It is not the end of the world if they don’t get a Disney Store Elsa costume to wear for their birthday party. The sky won’t collapse if you don’t get the right toy, or all the toys they want. And, for goodness sakes, quit acting like it will, because those kids are watch you and how you act and how you bend over backwards to their every whim, and there’s an excellent chance that this kind of behavior will backfire in your face one day (think of the teen years!). Not getting everything that you want when you want it is good for kids, it teaches them to cope with minor loss and move on. It’s also good for the kids’ future teachers and employers, who don’t want to spend all day babysitting “I want it” tantrums. And many times, once you track down a hard to get toy, the kid has already forgotten that they ever wanted it in the first place. The sun will rise tomorrow no matter what, but the days will feel a lot longer if your kids become spoiled and ungrateful from being shown love with money. Just my ten cents on the matter…
Trying to Mom 