Skill Toy Weaponology

It’s been one of those days the past couple of days.

Last week I shared that my wife hit my 5 year old in the head with a ProZ due to not putting it on right and breaking one of the rules: Don’t throw towards people, pets and breakables.

My kids are adept at turning darn near anything into a weapon or at the very least, an object to fight over. The family room is strewn with lego bricks, which coupled with bare feet or in socks, can act as “soft tissue landmines”.

I’ve been buying other skill toys lately. Spintops, gyroscopes, kendama, diabolo, firisbee, and am planning to get a footbag and a juggling set.

Let’s review:

Yoyo, well, as has been shared before, my wife hitting the kid in the head. What has also been shared before is the 3 year old using her yoyo more like a mace and as a weapon to force submission. Thank goodness for wood!

The Diabolo, which arrived home after BAC, has been a never-ending source of regret. First, the 8 and 5 year old want to use it, and they at least use it properly. However, whenever they attempt to do so, the 3 and 1 year old have a fit and must have it. When they do have it, they are flinging it around for the most part, so it becomes almost a projectile weapon. At least when my wife uses it, there’s a small chance of problems. At $40/pop to get a decent starter diabolo and metal sticks, it ain’t cheap, but it ain’t super expensive either.

My 5 year old got a Duncan Freakhand after BAC. Now with his 5A antics, with a “free flying yoyo”, its been an interesting new world of “incoming”! That and the Fiesta XX I got for him at BAC, well, my alert levels have risen.

Yesterday, two Yomega Kendama’s arrived. My 5 year old got one last Saturday at YoLex and it’s been the go-to fight item since then. Anyhow, I got two older ones, same color. One for the 8 year old, another for myself. I was hoping for different colors. In addition to now the 5 year old DEMANDING to trade with the 8 year old and the 8 year old NOT willing to trade, that’s one aspect. The other aspect is the 5 year old hit the 8 year old in the face with the ball of it. The 3 year old grabs the last one(mine) and it’s a mace. The 1 year old is grabbing the other one and I had to break up a potential kendama fight seconds before it got into “full swing”.

Gyroscopes arrived this week. Fun, a new challenge and a new weapon. Mostly, they can’t figure out how to use them, so they are being thrown. They aren’t exactly lightweight and ahve all sorts of angles to hurt you with.

I also got a rail twirler. Ah, another toy from my childhood. They seemed bigger then but I was also smaller then. Loads of fun, loads of new fighting. At least I haven’t been hurt yet when parts have been flung at me. As expected, it’s a 4-way fight. At least these aren’t expensive.

Spintops: Ah, another thrown toy. So many excuses that are plausible for hurting each other. Fortunately, that hasn’t happened yet. My 8 year old has a Bearing King. I have 2 Bearing Kings, one I keep fixed top and the other is set as a bearing tip. My Sophia is off-limits even to me as I’m working towards that! Even so, there’s been “spintop related injuries”.

All I’m gonna say is if you come to my house, please stay alert. Between two pugs aggressively going after cuddles and greetings, and kids flinging toys everywhere, this is NOT a safe place to be! If you hear a spinning bearing, you best be on high alert!

Checking surroundings is a must… Almost Eli Hopped into the overhead lighting at work (lunch time yoyo session) a little lower than I expected.

They sound very… resourceful…