Choosing a Toddler Bed by Little Tikes
I am the grandmother of a toddler who is ready for a big boy’s bed, so I decided to shop around for a bed made by Little Tikes. My first inkling is to choose the Thomas & Friends™ Train Bed because his parents got him interested in trains at a very young age. They have a steam engine DVD which simply mesmerizes him. He is very alert to the sound of a train as well. When we play outside and he hears a train in the distance, he immediately calls out, “train!” I might add that he does the same thing with planes, helicopters, trucks, vans, and motorcycles. The trouble is that Little Tikes doesn’t make a bed out of any of those machines.
Several months ago, my grandson used do the same with the word – car, but I guess he just see so many of them that he would be exhausted if he continued. He does like Jeeps too, but I don’t think that I could fool him into thinking that any of the Roadster™ Little Tikes beds or sports car beds is a Jeep. However, he still may really like one of them. He might like the idea that he has a car, just as his parents and his Grammy each have one. Nah, he is too smart for that. If I told him that, he would look at me from the corner of his eyes and then burst out in laughter. Although he is only a little bit past two years old, he already has a good sense of humor, or at least I make him laugh! Come to think of it, I make a lot of people laugh too. People tell me that I have a very expressive face, and sometimes my feelings come across quite plainly, and according to general consensus, sometimes very humorously. However, at this age, little tikes such as my toddler sometimes take it as a cue to carry on – pressing it to their advantage.
Right, well that is what grandmas are for – to have fun and get away with as much as possible! However, I finally “found him out” so to speak. For a while now, I noticed that my grandson would cry, “Mommy” when I was trying to have him do something that he didn’t want to do. I took him to task and mimicked him. Sure enough, after the initial shock wore off, he burst out in a big smile. He tested me several more times until he realized that I knew what he was doing. Of course, when I told his mom, she didn’t like this approach, but when I am caring for my grandson, I have to know what works for us. I say “us” because indeed, doing the right thing to curb a child’s behavior is a team effort. A child likes the feeling that an adult is in charge.
Yet, as far as the toddler bed by Little Tikes is concerned, perhaps I should give him the opportunity to make that decision. It will mean that I will have to take him around to the local stores and see which one he prefers. On second thought, I think I will choose the Thomas & Friends™ Train Bed. It is so obviously a train and not a bed, that he may not even realize when it’s bedtime, and we can forgo the “Mommy” routine.
Written by Brenne Meirowitz, BA, MA, MS.
© 2010-2011 Brenne Meirowitz. All Rights Reserved.