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Bear has a lot of toys. Too many toys. Bucketload of toys. Pantload of toys. So many toys he could easily open a Toys R’ Us in his bedroom! And he does play with most. Every year before his birthday, we take a day for him to go through the toys he no longer plays with.
He understands the toys aren’t being thrown away but rather, donated to kids who don’t have toys. It makes him feel better and furthermore, he also teaches him not to hoard his toys and to share with those in need.
We buy Bear toys all the time and as much as we would love to say we need to chill on that, we seem to always pick up something. Now, in our defense, we’re not buying a ton of things for him at once, nor are we buying huge big-ticket items all the time. We’re buying little things and sometimes knick-knacks.
Bear has been under a bit of stress lately but it’s not related to school. Bear, much to my chagrin, plays a lot of online games. We do limit him to only a couple hours a day during the school week but we also know during the weekends (plus Bear being an only child), it can be pretty boring if there’s not a playdate or a birthday party to attend.
So, Bear can get frustrated by his online gaming friends or whatever mission he’s doing in a game. And Bear gets frustrated, it gets pretty bad. He either destroys things or goes into a crying fit. Every time Maks and I have talked to him to take a break and turn off the game, it falls on deaf ears.
We do meditation but even I know sometimes that doesn’t work in the heat of the moment. When you’re angry, you’re angry, and sometimes you just want to be angry. But I also want to teach Bear there are other productive means to handle his anger and frustration.
Enter Pop-up toys.
Click on the picture to purchase!
These are neat little silicone toys that are just what I describe – little balls to push down or pop up. No loud noise, no big popping sounds, nice and quiet (and if you don’t like a lot of noise, you’ll really appreciate this!).
I didn’t know how popular these were until Bear opened his and told me he had several friends at school who had similar pop-up toys. We got him the Minecraft and Among Us characters, but there are a ton to choose from. We also chose rainbow because Bear really loves the rainbow color.
Immediately, we saw a positive result. Bear was a lot calmer and took a break from his gaming to play with his pop-up toys. He even asked if he could get a few more in different colors but we told him he needs to play with the ones he literally just received, lol. (Kids!)
Furthermore, the pop-up toys is teaching Bear to take a break and I think that’s something we all need to remind ourselves – take a break from what is stressing us out, be it family, friends, work, or whatever. Sometimes we just need to chill out, like how Bear says.
And according to the American Psychological Association (APA), maybe chilling out is what we all need. Since the beginning of the pandemic, more people are reporting they are stressed out more than they have been pre-pandemic. A lot of people have dealt with a ton of issues from racial and social injustice, the elections, money issues, and if you’re a parent, the closing of schools.
It can definitely be overwhelming and can cause someone to tear their hair out. The good folks over at the APA also have this handy chart to use (and can download for free!) to help people take a break from life to get refocused.
The beautiful things about these pop-up toys is that it’s teaching Bear mindfulness. While it’s awesome to play games, make a lot of online friends, and be connected in other ways, it’s also equally important to take some time for yourself and reconnect with who you are. It’s been said that the average attention span online is a mere 8 seconds.
8 SECONDS?!
That’s right, 8 seconds to either get you entertained, informed, or you’ll move on (and I’m not going to front, I do this as well). People don’t want to be drawn out and play guessing games anymore. Either you tell us what’s going or we move onto someone who does. The world is operating at a break-neck speed and sometimes it can be mad overwhelming to keep up.
Even for a small child.
I try to teach Bear to relax and let enjoy life as much as he can. We often go out on Mother-son dates, while Daddy works. Sometimes, it’s going for ice cream, watching a movie, or doing some railfanning event. Sometimes, Bear even helps me do my YouTube videos when I get around to them!
We often play video games together. He’s introduced me to the world of Minecraft, Roblox, and Among Us (though I’m still trying to understand how to play that one!). It helps me understand what the kid is into and what he likes. I feel like I can be a cool mom. You know one of those.
And while that is fun and a form of stress relief, I also understand I can’t always be around and Bear will need to teach himself how to calm down and sort through his emotions so he can continue with his goals. That is what I plan to do with Bear.
Teaching him mindfulness at his early age will only benefit Bear in the long run. Not that it’ll completely void him of tantrums and other bad behavior from time to time, but at least it’ll teach him that anger is a fleeting emotion but sometimes real damage can come from it. If he can just take a few minutes to step away, it might do a lifetime of good in the long run.
According to another study, kids’ behavior during the pandemic were negatively affected and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why – no socialization, lack of in-person teaching, and rarely going to do any usual events can take the toll on many people, especially young children who are at the prime development of their lives. Yes, children can be stressed TF out, yo!
These pop-up toys are super fun and I do believe they’re the next big in toy like the fidget spinner craze back in 2015-16. Mindless fun but on the same time, mindfulness fun (get it? Yep, you sure did!). Plus, I believe these toys will help your child (or you!) deal with stress.
These toys are hella cheap at Amazon, but I’m not sure where else you can get them. Go ahead and check them out and let me know what you think of them? Did you get one for your child? Did you get one for yourself? What color did you opt to get? What design? I’m thinking about possibly getting a unicorn pop-up for me if I can guarantee Bear won’t try to snatch it away, lmao.
Do you plan on getting a pop-up toy? If so, which one?
