Dateline Boston — Recently I took a couple of kids to the local toy store so they could each pick out a treat. We walked around for awhile, admiring this and that, and eventually came to the checkout counter, where there were several smaller items for sale. One was a box with a mystery character inside. How cool! It was within our price range, so the boy picked up a box.
The saleslady behind the counter said, “I know how to tell what’s inside the box. See? There’s a code. Depending on the number, I can tell you what character is inside.” I was flabbergasted. She wanted to shatter the whole point of the toy? I stammered, “Oh, wow. That ruins the surprise!” She replied that she did it to prevent kids from getting doubles.
I couldn’t believe it. This woman was taking it upon herself to change a child’s experience based on what she thought kids might want? She assumed kids wouldn’t want to get doubles of a toy. She was wrong! I was so proud of the boy I was with. He not only got two boxes, he didn’t ask her what was inside. When we got to his house, he discovered that one of the figures was, in fact, a triple! He put it in line with all the rest of the figures, and his sister wanted to make a video of their purchase. She narrated it, saying that now they had three reds, or whatever they were called, and two of that character, and one of another. They lined them all up.
That experience made me think about a child’s sense of wonder, which seems to be disappearing at a rapid pace. Nowadays, anyone can look anything up in seconds, and know the answer — or at least know whatever someone has written on the internet as the answer. When I look things up, I compare sites. And I do look things up. I’m just as guilty as the next person. I think it’s fun to show kids YouTube videos of songs I sing to them, or look at photos of animals they only have seen drawn as cartoons. My 6-year-old, whom I take care of every day, is currently into Star Wars. We talk about the characters every day. Some of the characters are pretty scary. At times it’s hard to tell if they are real or not. The other day I showed my girl pictures of the actors who played Star Wars’ characters, side by side with their costumes. It was quite eye opening.
Sometimes I don’t look things up because I do want to just wonder. I want kids to wonder, too. I think a box that has a surprise character is a great thing. You might even say a wonderful thing! What’s inside the box? Let’s guess. Were we right? How many of these characters do we have now? How can we sort them? I wonder if we’ll ever get X character? There are so many questions to be asked with a toy like that.
What would happen if…?
Why can’t you…?
How many times can I…?
Who was the first person to…?
Let’s keep a child’s sense of wonder alive. Put down your phone, Watch what those ants are doing. Imagine what Darth Maul would look like without makeup. Buy those boxes. And don’t look at the code.
Ms. Vaillancourt may be contacted at snobbyblog@gmail.com