The Sketchbook Series: Snapshots of a Single Father Pt 3
Previously in the series…
⇦ The Sketchbook Project Series: Snapshots of a Single Father Pt 2
Sometimes I feel I’m drowning in toys,
Unable to breach the surface,
Slowly sinking into the plastic abyss..
Of course he wants more!
It’s amazing how many toys you can accumulate over a period of time.
I was looking at pictures of my flat two years ago before my son moved in with me.. so minimalist, so clean. Marie Kondo would be proud. Now on the best of days it looks like the children’s toys section of a charity shop.
**How did it get like this ?
**
I think part of it.. (okay lets be serious now he is 4 years old and has no money and doesn’t go shopping) so.. all of it stems from me. Growing up I was always the kid who didn’t have the latest toy. I remember one point in my life where all the other kids had the Power Rangers morphing toys, futuristic looking vehicles that all combined together to make a MegaZoid.
I had a toy dinosaur where you squeezed his leg and is mouth opened and closed. Yup..
“Anyone else want to play?”
“What else does he do?”
***“Well you can pretend he roars when you open his mouth by making the noise with your own mouth”
***
I know.. first world problems.
My parents didn’t have the luxury of toys when they were kids and so I think they didn’t see the necessity of me having them either. To put it in into context my mum is from a rural part of the Philippines.. you were lucky if you could find a Beetle that you could tie a string to for entertainment.
So now that I have one of my own I find me putting myself in his shoes and thinking, I wish I had that when I was little.
It adds up.
It doesn’t become fully apparent until you have one of those child tornadoes, where the rule of “tidy up before you get another toy out” falls on deaf ears and in the aftermath your flat resembles some sort of snow globe that has been violently shaken, but instead of snow and glitter, toys have come to settle and rest on any and all flat surfaces.
In creating this I hope to document the toys that he played with at the time. If he ever comes across this sketchbook when he is older, I hope I bring back some fond memories of the toys he once played with and long forgot.
As for how we progress. My boy is now of the age where he is starting to understand the concept of charity and we are slowly dropping things off for “other children to enjoy” now that he has finished playing with them.
As for me.. I’m still learning how to stop myself from the “it's just a little toy” reasoning and keeping my wallet shut. Perhaps I should see how he takes to playing with a beetle on a string.
⇦ The Little Yellow Envelope – Introduction
⇦ The Sketchbook Project Series: Snapshots of a Single Father Pt 1
⇦ The Sketchbook Project Series: Snapshots of a Single Father Pt 2
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