Homestead Hack #2: Steal the Batteries!

Upon the birth of our children, we asked for non-toy type gifts. And the few toys that did receive the parental okay were usually metal or wooden. Our goal was to get away from toys with a million tiny plastic pieces to break or otherwise loose. Of course, this request can only be adhered to for so long. Eventually a relative that didn’t get the memo, a grandparent who thinks you’re being cruel, or a friend at their fifth birthday breaks the rule and the floodgates open.

With two of our own, and two foster kids we’ve kind of given into the plastic junk at birthdays and Christmas. We don’t purchase them, but we no longer glare at the evil gift giver who bought an ice-cream themed doll that comes with 50+ flavors of plastic ice cream scoops no bigger than a pencil eraser. That said, I still have a very hard time with the singing toys: the “interactive” ones that tell the kid to put the blue block in the square hole. You know, because I don’t actually interact with my kids, so I need a plastic device to act as parent… On top of that: I can’t stand the noise! We now have a singing school bus imploring the kids to:

“Be nice, be nice, not just once or twice;
be warm and kind to the folks you find
keeping nice stuff on your mind.”

It’s infuriatingly catchy (and almost makes me angry at niceness…).

So what do I do? Steal the batteries! Look, an AA battery is an AA battery. It will work just as well in a singing bus as a head lamp or a smoke detector. Noise problem solved!

Buying one battery is cheaper than buying three, and the silence is wonderful.

Homestead Hack #1: Label Your Eggs!