– Time For A Tiara: Column by Ginna Young – - I guess it’s all just a bunch of crap

– Time For A Tiara: Column by Ginna Young –

I grew up in the best time for toys, in my opinion, going through the 1980s and 1990s, when commercials were more about games for kids/families, than who to order delivery from online. Of course, the most commercials geared toward kids ran during Saturday morning cartoons.

Like any child, I saw the latest toy and I wanted it. We didn’t have the money to go out and buy the newest fad whenever we felt like it, so I didn’t get too many of them. In most cases, even if we had the money, Mom said she wouldn’t give house space to that crap.

There were some, I just had to have. Again, that was just too bad. Still, I remember how it felt to covet those toys.

Anyone remember Skip-It? That’s the toy that you strap around your ankle and at the other end of a tether, is kind of a ball-shaped thing. The object was to jump up and down, while swinging the ball around in a circle.

It took major coordination, something I don’t have, which was very clear to me when one of the girls I played with when we lived in Mellen, brought hers over. I can still feel the thud on my shin bone, as the ball hit me dead on.

I also lost my balance, tumbling over onto the sidewalk. I quickly decided that game wasn’t for me.

Unfortunately, I never did get to play Hungry Hungry Hippo or Mouse Trap. Honestly though, Mouse Trap probably wasn’t as exciting as the cartoon mouse trying to avoid the trap made it seem.

I really loved playing dress-up with all my toy costume jewelry and filmy scarves. I’d put on the cakey play make-up my grandma sent, blue eye shadow and red rouge for cheeks – until we realized it made my face break out. I can still smell that stuff today.

Mom wouldn’t let me use the mini-lipstick samples from Avon at that time, so I used the Avon equivalent of cherry Chapstick to achieve a red lips affect.

Something that would have gone really well with my ensembles, would have been the purple plastic mule heel sling-back shoes, with furry/feathery trim that came in a package. Man, I wanted those so bad, but Mom said she wasn’t wasting good money on that trashy looking crap.

To this day, I still think about them and wish I could have had them.

Then, there was the pet rock. I love rocks, I’m not going to lie, and to think that I could have one as a pet, just blew my mind. Well, Mom didn’t see it that way. She said why the heck would she actually go out and spend money on crap like a rock, when I could walk out the door, pick one up and call it a pet.

She never got the appeal of it and no amount of cajoling would persuade her to buy that for me.

As I grew older, I decided that money really was the issue for not getting the cool toys I wanted. As I grew even older and our finances drastically improved from what they were, I realized it wasn’t the money. Mom just plain didn’t think those toys were cool or fun.

I know this, because a few years ago, I was watching Nickelodeon and saw all the new toys they have now. I got so excited and wanted them all. Mom gave me a sideways look and said the dreaded words.

I wouldn’t give house space to that crap. Won’t catch me wasting good money on that crap. Who would actually want to go out and spend money on crap like that.

I sadly changed the channel and decided that some things just never change. Certainly not Mom about what she considers “crap” going in her house.