{"id":295,"date":"2012-10-04T00:12:07","date_gmt":"2012-10-04T05:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/fathertime\/?p=295"},"modified":"2012-10-04T00:12:07","modified_gmt":"2012-10-04T05:12:07","slug":"birthday-shopping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/?p=295","title":{"rendered":"Birthday Shopping"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Hannah has a birthday coming up, which means I’m spending my kid-free weeknights browsing the local toy stores. This is the best quality time I can spend with my daughter without actually being with her. I love thinking about the kinds of toys and games and crafts she likes, and I know that I’ll pick out at least a couple of gifts that bring her joy.<\/p>\n

However, I can’t help feel a bit of sadness as I shop. I know it’s a cliche, but it’s true: My little girl is growing up so fast. As I walk up and down the aisles, I see experiences I want her to have while she’s young. But she’s getting older every day.<\/p>\n

…I spot a rock collector’s kit, complete with rock samples, and I remember the kit I received when I was her age.\u00a0 I want her to learn about pyrite (fool’s gold) just like I did, by owning a little chunk of it.\u00a0 Should I get that for her?<\/p>\n

…What about the board game Risk<\/em>? I loved playing that when I was younger, but maybe she’s too young to appreciate it? Are there other board games I want her to know and love like I did?<\/p>\n

…And there’s a build-your-own-robot kit. She bought one of those at a gift shop in South Carolina this summer, and we never got around to building it together. Is it too late now?\u00a0 Should I buy another one?<\/p>\n

I know Hannah won’t have the exact same set of experiences I had when I was a kid. There are toys and games that I played with for hours that don’t grab her attention at all. And she has her own interests, ones that didn’t appeal to my nine-year-old self.<\/p>\n

But I know that some of the gifts she receives for this birthday will create memories for her that she’ll carry with her for years. Wandering through the toy store, I feel the weight of that responsibility, that opportunity. What a privilege to help shape this little girl’s view of the world.<\/p>\n

Image: “Battle for Europe<\/a>,” photobunny, Flickr (CC)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hannah has a birthday coming up, which means I’m spending my kid-free weeknights browsing the local toy stores. This is the best quality time I can spend with my daughter without actually being with her. I love thinking about the kinds of toys and games and crafts she likes, and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3,29,5,30,68],"class_list":["post-295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-birthdays","tag-gifts","tag-growing-up","tag-memories","tag-shopping","column","twocol","has-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":297,"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295\/revisions\/297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}