The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-12-09
YOUR
 CHILDREN
eK 0lire Robents 0sItoa

One time years ago I was talk ing over the telephone to my sls- ter on Christmas morning: And one of her little sons inisisted on tell ing me what Santa Claus nao brought him. q.
 Didn't I know all about 1t. thought Hadn't helped search aIl over the city to find the greatest train and track ever madeY Had not all of us had a circus one evening with q stationary engine that ran miniature sawmills ana pile drivers and half a dozen other gadgets too cute for words? Hadn't [ | out-shot all the others at target practice with a sort of battledore and shuttlecock game? I knew all about the great sled 8 yard and q half long that would hold all three of the boys at once, if some one pulled it. They were too little to coast alone.
 Over telephone came a squeaky little voice inarticulate with excite ment.
 "Hello there, dear! What did Santa Claus bring your" :.
 "He brought me 8 dying pig, was the answer I got.
 "A what?" I wondered if was talking to the right little boy.
 "A dying pig!" he said again. ''well, wasn't that nice! What else?" I asked weakly.
 "Oh, lots of things. But you blow the pig up and 1t falls over." My sister took the receiver then .'What's all this about pig?" wanted to know.
 "It is a little balloon we put in his stocking. He seized on 1t and won't look at another thing. His father is completely sunk. He won't look at his train and we've worked the stationary engine to death trying to get him interested" All that day he played with the pig and some blocks. The grown ups had fine time with the other presents but his parents were wor- ried. They had brought a moron into the world, boy who would never be interested in the worth while things of life.
 Poor little tyke!
 All that had happened was that they had bought the children's Christmas presents for themselves. What did q child of five know about electric switches and tracks A train galavanting over excelsior fields and through dishpan turt- nels meant nothing. What did he know about sawmills and pile drivers at that age, or stationary engines that ran them?
 He assiduously applied himself ] to his younger brothers play things and even froze to rattle of the baby's.
 We laugh over that Christmas l to this day. That boy, now a man. is no moron. He is q very up and coming young business man now. His toys were too old for him He couldn't work them himself be- cause he not only didn't know what they were all about, but he l lacked coordination in his little | fingers. But he could blow up a rubber pig with his lungs and watch 1t lie down and fall over and he was happy.
 l There are toys for every age To-day we have for children o1 four or five a wealth of things tC choose from that they can under. stand and do, but the more com.
 plicated toys requiring manipula.
 tion and judgement are for theil
 older brothers and sisters. Simple
 trains or carts a child can pusl
 about give him a real interest, sim
 pie building sets, big pictures |,
 color, cork boards to pound nall
 into, a sled he can tote aroun,
 himself, a ball he can throw, ,
 horn he can blow or a drum t,
 beat, simple story books he cal
 understand. These are better.
 It is quite an important matter
 to buy toys of the right sort for tn,
 right age.