Trip to the baby store.
Sure, at one point in life we've all walked through a toy store or a baby goods store. But in the past, Toys'r us has usually been about me, or someone like me. someone who wanted some cool little thing to play with, be it anything from the Darth Tater Mr. Potatohead to the latest video game. Purely luxury and never a necessity. And on rare occassion maybe a baby shower registry where someone has already figured out what they want.
But I suddenly have a whole new perspective on the place. We went there for a casual stroll the other night and we were simply overwhelmed. There were little munchkins screaming "I want ___" and running all over the place. There were expectant mothers with a hand on their belly as they picked out things for their babies and their babies to be. And then there was us, completely mystified between the endless fashions. (Wifey preferred the onesy that said, "I'm the cat's meow" as I eyed the pink Oakland A's outfit.), 12 selections of cribs, 15 basinet playpen combinations and the value of a diaper genie vs. the diaper champ vs. cloth diapers. We pretty much left the place screaming and wondering how we would ever know what we need and don't need for the little girl on the way.
I think the point was, we should be prepared to spend at least a couple hundred dollars on things we believe we will need, simply through their clever marketing and our inability to fight some over protective instict.
posted by Rid @ 8:49 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
From my brother's example, I'd say don't worry too much about clothes styles. Little Dinesha will outgrow everything pretty quickly.
You're right about the rest of the stuff. It's like funeral-home owners who try to get you to overlook the simple, functional no-frills coffin in favor of the one three times as expensive with a ton of useless bells and whistles.
Marketing will tell you you're a bad parent if you buy less expensive stuff. But don't reward them with your hard-earned dollars just because they're trying to make you feel guilty.
Just get something that looks good and gets the basic job done, and you'll have no regrets.
And in terms of toys, the whole concept of kids being more excited about the large boxes that toys come in rather than the toys themselves, that's true. My nieces have a huge stack of toys they played with once for five minutes and never touched again.
Dr. Seuss books are great, as are other educational tools. But you don't need anything too fancy, like the $30 toys that purport to teach little Dinesha the alphabet by using music and bright colors. Again, it'll get used for five minutes.
You've been reasonable shoppers for your whole life. That doesn't need to change, even in the face of hordes of companies trying to sell you expensive crap you don't need.
Or buy used. There are plenty of people who bought tons of stuff when they were in your position and don't need it any more.
And take all advice from non-parents with a grain of salt.
A couple hundred dollars at the garage sales maybe. Multiply that by ten if you want them new.
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