Parents want to give everything to their kids and deny them nothing. Before I had children, though, I remember watching with confusion and slight disdain the news coverage of otherwise normal parents turning into mob rioters just to score a Cabbage Patch Kid for their children’s Christmas present. I couldn’t believe people could put such importance on an individual gift.
Fast-forward into the early 90s and I am a young mother with two small boys who were captivated by the Power Rangers. They faithfully watched every episode and constantly acted out their karate movements… against each other. I even enrolled them in karate classes so that they could safely learn these things without hurting each other. Needless to say karate wasn’t what they were interested in. It was being a Power Ranger.
They even wore the Power Ranger costumes and clothes daily.
Then came the first Christmas after the show’s airing and the continual nonstop advertisement of action figures.
If my children were any indication of their popularity, I knew this was going to turn into another Cabbage Patch Kids incident.
Trying to get ahead of the curve, I frequented every store around my house that sold toys every day since I first saw the commercial. For a few weeks, all they had was the yellow and pink rangers, the girls. Much to my feminist chagrin, my boys were uninterested in the Power Rangers as a group of boys and girls. They only wanted the rangers they liked, the green and red ranger dolls.
One day I picked up a blue ranger and another day a black ranger doll, but as any parent knows, I needed two of everything.
Day after day, I went back to multiple stores to talk to their workers and managers to see when they expected shipments of the action figures. As unhelpful as they were, they couldn’t commit to any particular dates or what toys would come in. Their stock answer was always “check back tomorrow.”
Eventually, I was able to get another black ranger and blue ranger, however, the green and red were eluding me.
Christmas was getting closer, so I expanded my daily visits to new stores and enlisted my husband to widen our circle. As a working parents, this was no easy task, so we worked in tandem, leaving excuses for why we had to run an errand, while the other watched the kids watched the kids. This was a solo mission.
Finally, one day while digging through the unorganized bin of action figures, I dug down beneath the piles of yellow and pink rangers and yanked up a red ranger doll. Then out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed the only green ranger and quickly snatched it.
Elated, I couldn’t believe my luck after all the time spent looking. I found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Smiling ear to ear as I checked out, I was relieved and patted myself on the back that my perseverance paid off
But as I took my bag out to the car, my glee was followed by disastrous deflation when I remembered that I only had one of each.
Driving home, I kept logically rationalizing that I could give one to each boy, but which one would get which? They like the green and red rangers equally. And I did have two other rangers for each of them. But by the time I got home, I knew it wouldn’t be enough.
With only a week left until Christmas, I would have to press on. I found two, so I thought there must be two out there somewhere.
Getting our single siblings and parents into the act too, we expanded our search parameters. I felt like a general issuing orders for a reconnaissance raid on enemy territory.
It was hard to make them understand the importance of this. I didn’t even know if I understood it myself. I just knew I had to turn over every stone to find these action figures. And time was running out.
The day before Christmas Eve, one manager told me they thought they were going to get one last shipment in early the next morning. So I woke up at the crack of dawn to go to this store, leaving the kids with my husband.
Dreading mission failure I drove there with anxious hesitation. If I failed I would have to make a Solomon-like decision. I could picture each of them opening up the gifts, disappointed that one got the green and one got the red. No matter what else they received, in their young minds it would be tragic and could cause fighting.
I sped along the wintry roads, hoping and wishing what I sought would be there, but concocting multiple scenarios, not knowing what I would encounter. If I found one of either the green or the red, I decided I would give the same thing to the boys and keep the other one for maybe a birthday gift in the future.
For a moment, I wondered if they could share the two dolls, but immediately dismissed that idea. Kids are not good at sharing anything.
But ultimately, I desperately wanted to give them what they wanted.
Walking into the store early, I held my breath as I approached the action figure bin. There they were, gleaming brand new packages of red ranger dolls. I ran up to the bin and grabbed one satisfied that I had achieved one goal. I could give both boys red, blue and black and that would be fine. But then I saw someone next to me with a green ranger doll in their hand.
Energized, I feverishly dug through the bin looking for another green ranger doll. But I came up empty.
As if stepping outside myself, I couldn’t believe my envy at this innocent parent, who was probably doing the same thing I was doing for the last few weeks.
For a split second, I actually thought about asking the woman if I could buy it from her. But then realizing how ridiculous I was acting, I stopped myself cold, staring at the red ranger doll for a minute.
Suddenly disappointment washed away and reality dripped over me as if I was waking up from some stupid dream.
I realized my kids would have to learn that you can’t get everything you want.
On Christmas morning, they opened their gifts and both were thrilled with the three action figures they each received, ripping them out of the plastic packaging and immediately playing with them and each other.
They were happy with what they had. Neither of them asked why they didn’t have a green ranger. Turns out, maybe I related some of those ideals in their young lives already. Mission accomplished.
SUZANNE RUDD HAMILTON 