From a child's perspective, all things are toys. Everything around them is something to be explored and played with. Mom's wallet, an electrical outlet, telephone, or an Elmo doll - they are all very interesting. Some when played with will send mom into hysterics as she jumps over tricycles and laundry baskets to foil her child's plans at unscrewing an electrical socket. Hence the mantra that is often heard floating out of my mouth, "It is a tool, not a toy". At first I had a hard time trying to get my kids to understand what toys were and were not. Then finally I stumbled on to this one day. It was an actual tool (a screwdriver I think) when I told them, "It is not a toy, it is a tool", We got into a discussion about what tools are. Then it occurred to me that basically all things fall into one of these two categories. It has been about 5 months since I started using this question with my children. Wonderfully it has helped them to understand that once they have been told it is a tool, they don't play with it anymore. Wish I would have figured this one out 7 years ago!
-Mommy
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