Batteries Not Included

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I guess we all survived Christmas since you all are here reading this now. Some of you may still be a little frazzled after the holidays, I know for me the worst part about Christmas or any holiday where my child gets a gift is that fact that he gets gifts that require batteries. I loath anything that requires batteries but not because it doesn't promote imagination but because I just hate having to buy batteries and I hate having to listen to him whine when the batteries die. I told you guys that he has OCD (if you missed that post check it out here) so its like the kid is stuck on repeat if the batteries go out in one toy. All I hear every five seconds is "Mommy we need batteries", "Mommy Mommy where are the batteries", "Batteries I need Batteries". I just want to make it stop, its even worse than the toys themselves with all the loud sirens, whistles, beeping and singing.


When I first had my son he had all the battery operated stuff but I slowly realized that they were more of a pain than I bargained for and tons more expensive even with rechargable batteries. Think about it if the kid has 20-30 toys that require 4 batteries thats alot of batteries even if they are rechargable. That also means that if a toy cost in the ballpark of 20 bucks you have to figure in how many times you will have to buy batteries so that 20 dollar toy could become more like 100+ after all the batteries.

I just got fed up with it and said to hell with toys with batteries and stopped buying them. He does of course still have toys that require batteries but being the "mean" mom that I am I let all the batteries die and I don't replace them. So now when he comes to tell me about his battery dilemma I tell him things like "All you have to do is believe and it will work" or "It doesn't need batteries it runs on imagination". The great thing about having a three year old is that he believes pretty much any phony line that I feed him. I take it one step further and I take the toy and pretend like it is doing all these great things and then he wants to try it out as well. This usually solves the problem for awhile but then that pesky OCD kicks in and its back to "Mommy Mommy...." and then we have to repeat the entire process again.

The other reason that I can't tolerate toys with batteries is the fact that when the batteries are dying the toys take on a life of their own which freaks me out . When Daylan was much younger (as if you can get much younger than 3) he had this Vtech table that took 4 AA batteries and it began to die slowly. In the middle of the night I would hear this creapy sound coming from his room. It sounded like ghost signing. I was terrified so being the complete wuss that i am I refused to go into my son's room at night but I tip toed past the door and I listened really close and it was the most terrifying ABC's that I every heard. Imagine for a moment the ABC's being sung really really slowly and drug out kinda like a tortured soul that is what it sounded like and there was no way that I was going in there after that. I figured if I didn't hear crying Daylan was alright and if I did hear crying I figured he was still alive. I know I am horrible but I was just so scared not to mention it was just me and him so I didn't have anyone else to coax into going and checking to see if things were okay.

So pretty much after that I made a vow that I would never purchase another battery operated toy every again. I have been pretty good to date the only thing that i have bought was a Vtech MobiGo (yep another Vtech but it doesn't come in the house it is strictly a car toy for our outings).


Does anyone else get a bad taste in their mouth when it comes to battery opeteated toys you know the kid ones not the adult kind (sorry I had to throw that in here somewhere...lol).