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Commercial Toy in My Home by Cherie Logan When twenty-year-old Chani was a baby I struggled over choosing toys. I would watch her crawl up to a pile of toys belonging to another baby and watch her focus on one plaything. I would then rush out and buy that toy thinking it was The toy for my baby. It wasn't. It never was. It turned out that whatever another baby was playing with was The toy, no matter what the toy really was! I could hardly wait for my baby to play with something other than teething tools. I loved baby dolls when I was little. I bought baby dolls. I loved books. I bought books. I loved dress up. Yep. I bought boxes of dress up clothes as well. Chani loved the dolls, the books and the dress-ups. But something was missing. Come the next birthday or Christmas we would have to start all over with another grouping of toys. The dress-ups had been bagged for give-away. I got so frustrated over picking through real clothes and pretend clothes that I became quite practical and decided that real clothes were pretend enough! The books were memorized and cherished and it showed. Year after year we would find ourselves replacing several favorites. I don't even know how many times I have bought Hop on Pop or Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb. The dolls were something different. They bred as fast as Chani's parents and she had a large collection before we even knew the population explosion was upon us. What we needed was something durable, small, imaginative and cheap. Cheap was good. But cheap and durable do not often go hand in hand. Along came My Little Ponies. Don't laugh! Don't shake your heads! You have no idea exactly how wonderful those little toys are for children unless you've been a parent of a three year old for over fifteen years! With nine children, that is exactly what I have been, a perpetual mother of young'ns. First of all, My Little Ponies were cheap. Five dollars got you a cute and colorful pony with little designs on the bum. Different colors and bum tattoos depending on the pony. And there were lots of them. I didn't ever have to repeat the gift. Mommies, babies, teen ponies and finally brother ponies. Some fast food places even gave them away as part of their meal. Second, My Little Pony was made from a soft plastic. I had bought several cute ponies and animals made from crisp, hard plastic. No matter how gorgeous the horse was with the refined head and silky mane it never looked quite up to par once the legs were broken off. And boy did they break! My children would play clip-clop and then pop, another injury. Of course then the horse couldn't stand so they would take aim and break the other three legs making for a rather squat toy. But the then legless horse could at least stand up to the MLP. MLPonies never broke their legs. Third, they were simple. No batteries. No noises to make mommy crazy. They picked up quickly and could be tossed into a small bin. They didn't hurt too much when thrown across the room and into baby's head. And they withstood hundreds of baths. My Little Pony has been the favorite toy of every daughter, all six of them. Their friends would come over and they would want to play ponies. Doll play happened from time to time but pony play was nonstop. The biggest surprise was how my sons responded to the ponies. I have three sons and they liked the ponies as well. Now, they liked all the boy stuff. But at night they would sneak out of bed to play ponies. I ignored the behavior, not wanting to make a big deal about the ponies being 'girlish'. And then something happened. My oldest son turned ten. His bedroom was above the family room and at night I would hear this terrible pounding coming from his room. I'd yell upstairs for him to stop the pounding. Silence for a few minutes and then it would start up again. I asked the girls what he was doing up there and they casually replied, "Playing ponies." Ok. It was time to check into the pony fascination. I went up to Ben's bedroom. He was on the floor with the ponies. I sat down next to him and instead of talking, which is my favorite pastime, I just sat there for a little while. Then I asked what he was playing. "Ponies. Why?" "I was just curious. What do they do?" "Well, mom, you see...the ponies are the good guys and the hard animals (the legless ones) are the bad guys and they are at war..." War. Son. Now I understood. The light went on in my mind. He went on to describe elaborate war plans. Games he had created for years. Sometimes all the ponies would get captured but there was always at least one that got away and could free the others. There were spies, captains, and all around fun, imaginative play boy style. My Little Ponies, the perfect toy for two decades worth of Logan children. Now, I have to purchase them on E-bay. And by the offerings there I can assume that others have also found them to be perfect toys. And my grown daughters still swoon over the ponies and the memories. My babies couldn't stay little forever but those ponies will still be here when the next generation of toddlers wander my halls. Some Family Articles - To see others visit my GenCreations Index Page
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