In perusing the Pottery Barn Kids catalogue today (which I'm now on their mailing list and I have a theory that since we registered there for our wedding, they have some program that adds two years from date of marriage to start sending the PB Kids), I was faced with the prospect/necessity of buying the requisite Halloween costume for that annual sugar-fest. "Look! Your child can be a little hamburger, Great White Shark, or Certified Organic Banana while he/she charmingly 'Trick or Treats' in order to cache a supply of candy that will last a year in this organic, sustainable, sweat-shop-free felt applique pumpkin bag!"
Now, I came from an age when Halloween costume-shopping consisted of looking through your closet, re-purposing clothing for a pirate or gypsy outfit, and calling it a night. We didn't have these pre-fab outfits that required no creativity and lots of money. I know they market the cuteness factor (have you seen the Thing 1 and Thing 2 outfits?) and I, like most parents, have a soft spot for their adorable little angel all dressed up as a bug-eyed frog, bumble bee or giraffe, but really...is this what it will be like having a kid? Am I joining the ranks of doting parents who will do anything for their child or who project their own hopes/dreams/abilities onto their children by making them mini-beauty queens (Toddlers & Tiaras, anyone?)
Being a parent, I now have a that list of "kid" activities that we can, should, and must participate in. Soon there will be birthday parties, soccer games, band practice, plays, PTO conferences, slumber parties, pool parties, roller-skating, movies, let alone dates, dates, DATES! And not only have I infiltrated the world of the child, but I have now become a complete, blubbering sap who succumbs to all forms of marketing directed towards such saps called parents. Oh, yes, I admit I have shed a little tear at those 'This American Life' radio shows about kids on the brink of death and their families....even at commercials about toilet paper. Now I know why kid-everything sells so well. Speaking of...I need to Google kid-sized Adirondack chairs....
But such is the joy of parenthood...until your child becomes a greedy spoiled brat monster who doesn't understand "no" and runs through stores like Veruca Salt in the Chocolate Factory and becomes the bane of parenthood. I'm hoping for the former. At the very least, I KNOW my little angel is going to look so darned cute in his pre-fab bug/spider costume I found on sale today for $7 AND can wear for the next 3 years. At least I'm thrifty.
1 comment:
We now have three toy buckets. Three. To give you an idea of how ridculous that is, two are empty. But they are cute and we needed one for separate rooms, right? They can make me buy anything...
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