Whose toy is it anyway?

We all have to admit that sometimes we buy toys for our kids because we want to play with the toys we buy.

For each of the last few years that I have attended the Annual Toy Fair held here in NYC I have had my eye on a multi-level desk top model train system (XTS by Basic Plus).  I don’t think I ever really thought about it being my son’s. I wanted it for me.  Well this year I bought it and threw the unopened box up on a shelf in my closet figuring someday I’d bring it to work and set it up on the windowsill and boy would that look cool.

Let’s just say the world has a way of throwing itself back into balance when a toy exists in a house and children have not yet laid claim to that toy. I was searching through my closet for something my wife wanted and several boxes and bags got moved around. I asked my wife to put the train set on top of a bureau so the kids would not see it at their eye level. She never got around to it and while now sitting at my desk in the living room the soon to be 5 year old comes running out with my train set.

When I tried to reclaim it my wife took his side stating she thought it was always meant for him anyway. Whoah there little lady that was my set.  She gave me a look that asked how old I was and I was then shamed into setting up the set not in my office but in my son’s room at table his height even though the box read that the set was recommended for children two years older than he.

I tried to convince him his Geotrax were cooler and could work at elevations higher than this set but at that point I had lost all control and my toy was no longer mine but was my children’s.

At least they let me play with it.