I was young when I had my first child, that’s no secret. I never really thought about him growing up and slowly losing interest in his favorite things. You don’t think about all the changes you’ll see in your child. They grow up so fast and before you know it they aren’t interested in all the things that they used to be interested in.
My son used to have hot wheels. I’m talking hundreds of them. Every time we went to the store he insisted on getting one. No big deal they were cheap and it was his favorite thing. He had a rug with a little town and roads to drive them on. He played with them all the time. He never left the house without at least one with him. Hot wheels were his favorite toy. I never thought about him outgrowing them. Eventually though, he did.
When he outgrew his hot wheels and no longer played with them, we decided to get rid of them. I put them all in a container and gave them away like it was nothing. I never thought about the possibility that he may someday have an interest in them again. I thought that phase in his life was over for good until maybe he had his own children some day if he chooses to. Now that I think about it, I wish I would’ve kept some. At least his favorite one.
Little did I know he would become a car guy as he got older. My son is 14 now and he loves cars. He has certain ones he looks for almost every time we go to the store now. It’s crazy to see. When we went Christmas shopping for last Christmas he stopped to look at them and for a minute he was 5 again. It took me back to all those times he stood there and picked a car to take home and play with. To all the times he laid on the floor and drove them all over his little town rug. To the excitement on his face when he took that new car home.
He used to stand there looking at them or just pick whichever one he thought looked cool. Sometimes we’d get home and he’d have already have that one. Now when he looks for a hot wheel, he’s looking for a specific one. He’ll dig through all of them until he finds the one he’s looking for. Recently he bought 3 of them. He was so excited and it took me back to him being 5. Now though, they aren’t opened for him to play with. They are displayed in his room to look at. It’s different, but the memory rings through my head like it was yesterday.
Children grow up. They go through phases. They grow out of those phases and sometimes those phases come back. They come back different, but they come back. If I could go back and save his favorite hot wheel, I would in a heartbeat. I can’t do that though. My advice, save their favorite toy if it’s something like a hot wheel. You never know when they or you will wish you still had it.
