Boys and Their Toys

My husband took the children to London on Saturday to visit the Science Museum. He managed to fall over again, he falls over sometimes because hid legs let him down, he has spina bifida. This time only his dignity was bruised, he phoned to tell me about his fall and he seemed very upset, but he was only troubled about his T shirt, he had spilled hot chocolate and had got two small stains on his top! Everyone had a good time they arrived home exhausted.

His recent difficulty with the vertical prompted a detailed conversation about childhood toys. Yes, you’ve guessed it we were talking about Weebles, the ones that wobble but don’t fall down! The conversation moved on to various other toys and he told me how much he enjoyed visiting his cousins when he was a child because he loved playing with their dolls pram and their Sindy dolls. Clearly he has always been in touch with his feminine side! I was not really a doll person, I liked my Tiny Tears, but I was more into cars, and in those blissful non PC days I had a selection of pop guns and cap guns and a couple of rather splendid Red Indian head dresses - I even had a wigwam. I was a fan of a series called the Virginian, in fact thanks to my dad I watched quite a lot of cowboy films. It was years before I studied history and with tears running down my face as I understood the cruel treatment that native Americans had suffered.

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I had a whole fleet of toy cars, including Lady Penelope’s pink car from Thunderbirds and the Batmobile, they were my special favourites because they fired weapons. My husband recalled his Evel Knievel set with realistic motorbike noises. Britain’s toys were among my favourites, I had the zoo, the farm and the riding stables, I even had a few cowboys, but I didn’t have a fort. My parents had a toy shop and I loved setting out all the Britain’s models, rows and rows of all types of soldiers, it kept me busy for ages. I liked to help with the Action Man displays too, but despite my interest in boys toys, it didn’t take me long to work out that most boys were incredibly boring. After all why would they waste hours building and painting Airfix models when they could buy ready made boats, planes and cars from the Corgi and Dinky ranges that were much nicer and didn’t fall apart when you touched them.

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My husband recalled his Tonka trucks and diggers with great affection, they were big and strong, suitable for playing out in the garden. Trains were his greastest passion even as a little boy, he had a Hornby train set with the track laid out on a board. As he grew up he left his Tonka toys behind, but his model railway collection grew and his passion for the railways shaped his career, and filled the house with an ever expanding collection of OO guage model trains, carriages, trucks and everything that a well equipped railway could need.

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As a little girl I knew that there were exceptions, not all boys were boring, my dad was cool and my heros of the time were Jim the builder and Martin the paper boy. Unfortunately I didn’t understand that some little boys never really grow up! Times have changed so much, I wonder which toys the little boys and girls of today will remember when they are adults with children of their own?