The Difference Between Men and Boys by Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., CLC, SDS

Life C ach The Difference Between Men and

Boys is the Price of Their Toys

By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., LMFT, CLC, SDS

My friend used to tell her kids that FAO Schwarz, a giant, expensive toy store on Fifth Avenue, was a toy museum. It was a very hands-on place that let kids play with samples of the toys that they sold.

It was a real win for her. The kids would go, enjoy, and not ask her to buy anything, although, as they got a little older, they started to think the rest of the kids in Manhattan were kleptomaniacs because all of them kept walking out with a variety of toys.

And when they got even older, she had to tell them the truth. But, she just couldn’t tell them she was a liar…so she stopped taking them there!

Just then Toys R Us opened in Manhattan. It had one Ferris wheel in the center and lots of toys all around. She tried to tell them it was an indoor amusement park and get away with just taking them for the ride. But they had gotten much wiser at that point.

They actually told her they thought it was time to start buying them some toys, or they’d make her go back to FAO Schwartz! After all, how much longer could they support her myth?

You know the old saying: you can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time – and you can’t fool a kid for very long at all!

Toy stores are one of those places you can always get a kid to leave the house to

go out to. The problem is, you can’t always get them out of there.

There are just too many great toys that they need!

They don’t really have a sense of the cost. Therefore, they don’t realize all your hard-earned money wasn’t really supposed to go for surrogate houses, cars, carriages, babies, doll clothes and motorcycles. It was supposed to go for real ones! Now, you realize, mom-and-pop toy stores really don’t give you a fighting chance. If you walk in there with a kid, there’s no way they are walking out emptyhanded. Honestly, what do you expect? These places are just not impressive

enough to pass as museums.

Now, a Target store, that’s a whole different story. There, there are enough other items to distract them. Still, don’t get me wrong. That doesn’t mean they walk out without a toy; it just means they’ll probably leave with an outfit or two and a snack as well!

Bottom line, kids are pretty savvy. Maybe, you can push off the inevitable for a bit. But soon enough, they all have the same interest: toys.

What do you expect? They don’t need to go to work, or milk the cows, or support a family, or stay distracted with homework. They have active minds and busy hands and therefore keeping them busy is their goal and should be yours.

Toys are actually a good thing. And when they want that – really those are the good days. Because their wants get more demanding as they grow.

So, enjoy the times they can be placated with the simple things. Soon enough, they want carriages and cars and houses – and this time, the price tag is certainly nothing to play around with!

She tried to tell them it was an indoor amusement park and get away with just taking them for the ride.

Rivki Rosenwald is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist working with both couples and individuals and is a certified relationship counselor. Rivki is a co-founder and creator of an effective Parent Management of Adolescent Years Program. She can be contacted at 917705-2004 or at rivkirosenwald@gmail.com.