Living in this ultra-consumerist world should have prepared me for the sheer volume of baby crap available. From Babies 'R' Us to Target to online superstores to the countless local storefronts both tacky and quaint, there is no need that should go unfulfilled when it comes to your baby. From the looks of it, we may need a second home to hold all the stuff we apparently need for the Weeble.
Our first foray into the baby-stuff frontier was a few weeks ago when we took our first trip to the superstore that is Babies 'R' Us to get a lay of the land. I had found some furniture online that I liked and wanted to see it in real life to decide if it was as good as it seemed. No such luck: half the stuff found on their website isn't necessarily found in the store. True for most of the furniture, if not all of it.
That evening at BRU was mind-numbing at best. For starters, there must be approximately 487 different types of baby bathtub available. 209 different crib mattresses. And no fewer than 1,763 strollers, carseats, and playpens. Everything does something slightly different, and has slightly different features. And that's just the useful stuff. There are $40 shelves with painted-on bumblebees, which are cute, but anywhere else (and without the baby-decor designer's name attached) that same dinky shelf would cost $7. There are the coordinating valances, lamps, rugs, diaper stackers, curtains, sheets, quilts, wall hangings, trash bins, toy chests, and clothes hampers to ensure that nothing, but NOTHING in your baby's room isn't perfectly matched. Then there are the binkies, bibs, onesies, crib sheets, stuffed animals, and baby socks - each numbering into the millions.
How does one even begin to decide what they want? I say "want" because "need" plays very little part in all of this. I think about when I was a baby (not that I have an extensive memory of this time in my life), and it's pretty clear my mother got away with about 1/100th of what is sold as necessary objects in this day and age. Do I really need a bottle warmer? Or even better, a baby wipe warmer?? Is it absolutely necessary for me to have a matching set of pillows that can't even go into the crib (for fear of suffocation), or a crib CD player that will soothe our little Weeble to sleep?
M and I still have at least one BRU trip left in us to pick out stuff like the stroller, the carseat, and other very utilitarian items that, for all intents and purposes, we actually need. But in an effort to get Weeble started off on the path of less consumerism, we may as well lead by example.
Of course, I say this as I panic about all the projects we have yet to complete (painting, new carpeting, closet reorganization) so there's a suitable place for all the stuff we will be putting into her room. Namely, a new furniture set. Anti-consumerist my ass. Weeble gets all new. We decided at least someone in this house should get a nice, matching bedroom set, and it certainly isn't M and me. And, I have to be honest: there will be some coordinating decorative items in the baby's room. That's right, I said it. Stuff will match. Now, excuse me while I go hang my head in shame. And think gleefully about how awesome my kid's room is going to be.
3 comments:
Get yourself a copy of 'Baby Bargains' it's like a consumer reports for babies, you don't need all that crap, the book is good for cutting through the nonsense. Saves you money too.
Good luck!
I LIKED MY WIPE WARMER. I ALWAYS FELT SO TERRIBLE WHEN I PUT THAT COLD, COLD WIPE ON MY BABIES BUM & THEY CRY BECAUSE IT WAS SO COLD. GRANTED WHEN THEY ARE OLDER THEY DON'T CARE IF THE WET WIPE IS COLD OR NOT. THAT WAS MY EXPERIENCE!!
This is New England, man! Weeble is gonna have to learn to adapt to all sorts of different situations and environments. After all, it was snowing 2.5weeks ago, and today it's pushing 70.
My personal take is that loving your child is one thing, but it just seems that in the past 20yrs or so, we've begun color-coordinating and accessorizing our children into the biggest bunch of sissies.
Heaven forbid that our child lean over our shoulder and spit up onto a washcloth or dishtowel. Now we have to sell small towels especially for the purpose. And like a bunch of lemmings, people line up to buy 1 or 2 towels for $6.99 because some kid in a sweatshop in Indonesia stitched a bumblebee on it, when you could have bought a six-pack of the same towels (sans the bee), for $3.99 in the kitchen department of the same store!
Urgh! so frustrating! Well, off to the Oxygen bar to refresh!
Post a Comment