This was my daughters second Solstice/Christmas, and we tried hard to stick to the Waldorf principles that we believe in. However, we were almost undone completely by an Elmo Live ! Doll that my neighbor bought her.
Luckily he told us what it was then gave it to us to give to her to open on solstice morn, when he wasn't there.
Have you seen this thing ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5Dvw51Rufkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5Dvw51Rufk
It is really amazing what it can do, but yes it is the antithesis of the Waldorf toy philosophy. It is a very life like robotic Elmo doll, that can sit, stand cross its legs and has like a 10 minute monologue.
We were watching on u tube a video of what it does and when dd saw it her eyes light up, jaw drops and she starts to squeal with delight. This was the first time she ever saw Elmo. She was so delighted I almost caved in and ran into the bedroom right there to give it to her just so I could see that smile and joy.
Luckily my good friend and my husband were there to snap some sense into me and I was able to resist. I never dreamed I would have that reaction.
I struggled a lot when I took it the store to return it, I know she would have loved it and I felt really mean. The sales lady was like "why are you returning this ? " and I told her that it's just not the kind of toys I want my dd to play with.
She looked at me like I was from mars and was like "this is the toy every kids wants !"
So we returned it and got her some warm clothes and wood blocks...
Luckily he told us what it was then gave it to us to give to her to open on solstice morn, when he wasn't there.
Have you seen this thing ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5Dvw51Rufkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5Dvw51Rufk
It is really amazing what it can do, but yes it is the antithesis of the Waldorf toy philosophy. It is a very life like robotic Elmo doll, that can sit, stand cross its legs and has like a 10 minute monologue.
We were watching on u tube a video of what it does and when dd saw it her eyes light up, jaw drops and she starts to squeal with delight. This was the first time she ever saw Elmo. She was so delighted I almost caved in and ran into the bedroom right there to give it to her just so I could see that smile and joy.
Luckily my good friend and my husband were there to snap some sense into me and I was able to resist. I never dreamed I would have that reaction.
I struggled a lot when I took it the store to return it, I know she would have loved it and I felt really mean. The sales lady was like "why are you returning this ? " and I told her that it's just not the kind of toys I want my dd to play with.
She looked at me like I was from mars and was like "this is the toy every kids wants !"
So we returned it and got her some warm clothes and wood blocks...
Good for you mama. I wish I had known in ADVANCE about some of the toys my son was to receive as gifts. Needless to say, many of them are locked away in a closet right now for as long as it takes for him to forget about them, then off to the thrift store. It really takes a lot of courage sometimes to stand up and just say no, but you really did the right thing and your daughter will be better off because of it. But you know that. 
