Remembering Toy Eater

We are now past the first full week of school vacation here in New York. This column from Lucy Robertson (Mrs Neu) seemed appropriate for the moment. It also calls to mind one of our favorite childhood memories. 

This column points out the importance of teaching children organizational skills as well as taking stock of what they have. Unfortunately, these lessons never really stuck for me well enough--which I am sure is true for many adults. My mother noted this as well, since her closet and drawers were in worse shape than those of her kids, as she admitted in the column's close. 

I am not entirely sure of the timing, but the narrative about the toys in this column is what likely led to my father's creation of "Toy Eater." Toy Eater was a large creature made out of paper mache, painted purple and that probably stood about 4 feet tall. It had a cone-shaped snout and a large round mouth that served as the receptacle for any stray toys left on the floor. These filled the Toy Eater's large ball-shaped yellow belly until it was time to play again, and we then tipped him over to spill them all back onto the floor. Toy Eater has a special place in our childhood memories. I wish I had a picture of him to share. 

Not sure if my father's version was inspired by Shel Silverstein's "The Toy Eater" poem found in his book Falling Up, or the other way around, but the resemblance is there.