Every day, citizen scientists (moms) discover new ways children are weird. This has been true since the dawn of time, because kids are quirky little creatures who are constantly finding unique ways to be odd. They’re rapidly evolving little weirdos, constantly adapting to the specifics of their individual circumstances. Like, have you ever noticed how they approach toys? Specifically how what they say they want is never actually what they really want? TikTok user Whitney Swaim (@whitneyjswaim) is one such mom, and illustrated this phenomenon in a recent video.
“This is what my son asked for for Christmas,” she says. “This Ultimate Hot Wheels Garage. … Big Hot Wheels person. Loves Hot Wheels. Picked it out in the catalog, ‘This is what I want from Santa.’”
Great! We love a wee king who knows what he wants! It certainly makes it easier for parents to have a concrete answer to gifting questions!
But…
“So tell me why he’s played with it maybe four times … but this,” she continues, holding up a one inch rubber dinosaur, “from a $4 bath bomb, I just spent 45 minutes looking for because you would have thought it held all the secrets to our family. He was beside himself that he couldn’t find it. Unbelievable! This rat-trash toy is his most prized possession over all of the gifts he asked for for Christmas. Like… what?!”
I think it’s safe to say that just about any parent can connect with this particular… not problem… but somewhat annoying peccadillo. My own children are routinely doted upon by multiple sets of generous grandparents. So tell me why my youngest recently spent an hour freaking out once because a $7 “pugachino” (literally a rubbery pug inside a rubbery coffee cup) went missing (incidentally, in a room crowded with far nicer and more expensive toys)?
Commenters agreed, offering all sorts of bizarre objects their kiddos have become deeply attached to.
“My 2 year old has formed an attachment to an unopened Covid test,” replies one.
“My son plays with the medicine syringe that came with his Tylenol,” another chimes in.
Another offers an insightful (possible) explanation.
“Because the big Hot Wheels track is too structured,” they observe. “There’s only one way to play with it. The dino lets him play however he wants.”
One can quibble about the details here, but I think this commenter is onto something because the little dinosaur is far more open-ended. It’s why, for example, my kids were able to play with their Picasso Tiles from the ages of 2 to 10 — there were so many different things they could do with them. From pretending each piece was a menu item at their imaginary cafe to building large pretend cities, there was always something new to explore with the basic shapes.
So, maybe it’s not that our kids are little weirdos*: they’re just endlessly creative.
*OK, but for real, they’re also little weirdos.
