I
am annoyed this week. Let me tell
you what is going on and see if you folks have any suggestions for me. My youngest child just turned nine (Happy
birthday, big guy!). He asked for one
toy for his birthday present, a remote control helicopter.
My older son had also been saving his money for one of these snazzy copters so
when I went to the store, we purchased two.
And…of course…I bought the 6 AA
batteries that went with each helicopter.
I spent about $10 on the batteries.
The
boys were thrilled with their helicopters and spent most of the birthday
evening flying them. One of the helicopters
shot missiles and the other had a search and rescue hook that would extend down
so that the copter could pick up emergency items while flying. The toys really are quite cool and Dad even
took them for a few flights. However, by
the end of the night, the copters were both flying kind of funny. They wouldn’t go very high and would
sometimes stop flying suddenly which caused some major crashes. As it turns out, the batteries were already
going dead!
I
totally understand that high tech toys require lots of battery power, but good
grief! Drained batteries after one
evening of playing? Who can afford $10 a
day for batteries?
So, what do I
do now? Do I limit the amount of time
they can play with these helicopters so that we stretch out the battery
life? Do I make the boys pay for their
own batteries? I need some ideas, folks!
I'd use this as a learning opportunity for them. One option would be to provide them with a monthly battery budget. They'd then need to figure out how to make that stretch through the month - how long to play with it versus conserve energy. They could also decide to use their own money to boost the budget.
ReplyDeleteAnother option would be to split the cost of the new budgets between you. That way, they'd feel the pain of how much the playing time is costing.
It's also a great conversation opener for talking about how some items come with built-in costs and you need to factor those in when you're buying them. Perhaps they could have researched that beforehand. (And maybe, they want to now go online and add feedback so others will know.)
Great ideas --- especially researching beforehand!
DeleteRechargeable batteries?
ReplyDeleteGoing to look into this option!
Deleteyep, my daughter has a toy helicopter that takes 8 AA's, she has to save up to buy them and we suggested she save up more to get rechargables because it will save her money in the end. she's still working on it and it's a great lesson learned
ReplyDeleteThat is a great lesson!
DeleteGet a set number of rechargeables and move them from toy to toy as they're in use.
ReplyDeleteI had not thought of moving them from toy to toy. Thanks for the idea!
DeleteLike everyone has said: rechargeables.
ReplyDeleteYeah, rechargeable batteries for sure - and get something of higher quality, it'll probably run the helicopters longer. For high current toys like helicopters, rechargeables will definitely pay off (for low current applications like remote controls, the math is more uncertain).
ReplyDeleteWow, that's just crazy, Pam. I've always hated toys that need batteries. I think maybe limiting it and (as others have suggested) using rechargable batteries. Good luck. :-)
ReplyDeleteRechargeables, and a learning experience (as those talked about above).
ReplyDeleteAs far as the engineering of the toy? & make the batteries last longer? Those batteries are heavy and most of the problem could be the weigt and strain of such. Kind of like "Electric cars" vs. gas powered ... they can't run as long or far as the other... and gas powered RC toys are not exactly cheap.
God Luck! still nice toys ... wish I had one! :)
ODWO
Pam, I'll go for the re-chargeable batteries option. This is what we do anyway (and John and I love playing with the very same helicopter as well; great fun).
ReplyDeleteHowever, your post is very timely for us: our son has his birthday in couple of weeks and my feeling is we overdid it on the party (even the lad himself says so). Well, this is the last one before the parties become drink, gils and rock ones :).