Buzz’s leg has fallen off.  It should be a simple decision to throw him away. But it isn’t.

He is more than just a toy. He is a symbol of “Buy the Buzz.”  A symbol of something I don’t like to do:  giving in to a demanding child simply to keep your own sanity.

I have refused donuts. I have ended play times at the park.  I have even marched my kids out of places because they were beyond control – mostly because of my own embarrassment!

But I have also made the decision to “Buy the Buzz.”  And that’s okay. Because sometimes it is more about hours of sanity for myself (and those around me).

This spring we vacationed at Disney World with some friends.  We had just finished  the “Haunted Mansion” ride at Magic Kingdom.  Cade loved it!

When we exited the line, a little water/juice/ice cream/toy station stand was waiting for us.  Cade saw this Buzz and  started to go crazy. Okay, he had really started to go crazy earlier than that because he wanted to ride the “Haunted Mansion” again – not understanding that we had just stood in line for what seemed like ages.

I’ll admit, I was trying hard to say no. We were not planning on buying anything at that point beyond just bottles of water.  But after moments of screaming, crying and kicking, the four of us adults all screamed… Buy the Buzz.

And so we rushed to “Buy the Buzz”, and Cade settled down.

That Buzz  kept him entertained for hours – especially when he waited for the bigger kids to finish with a ride for which he was too short.

I have to admit it was not the only time I would “Buy the Buzz” on our Disney vacation.  At Hollywood Studios, I bought a Lightening McQueen piggy bank just to settle him down. I should have also bought him the remote control car he begged and screamed and kicked about having. It might have saved me from carrying a screaming, kicking kid down the street to meet the rest of our party who had just finished a ride.  But I had to draw the line somewhere.

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Since initially writing this post, Cade found the broken “Buy the Buzz.”  He said, “He is broken. We need to buy a new one at Disney World.”  Cade walked over and threw it in the trash. I almost wanted to dig it back out to put it away in his box of special outgrown things.  You know…maybe I will go do that right now 🙂