Beachballs in Winter

March 5th, 2009. Published under good buys. No Comments.

Nope, I wasn’t  planning to take my kids for a dip at the beach when I bought a dozen inflatable beachballs last December.  I’m not that crazy. Even in the summer, seawater can feel like it had been placed  in the freezer for two hours.  No  thanks,  American beaches  are not for me.  I’ll wait ’til I get enough money  to go home and splash at Boracay.  So what’s with all the beachballs then?

My son is very inquisitive, always asking where this and that country is. I’ve been thinking of buying him a globe, but it’s very expensive.  It can cost from 40-60 dollars.Good thing I saw these  balls designed to look like a globe. I bought twelve of them for only seven dollars at Rhode Island  Novelty. My kids can kick them and toss them around. They can have fun and learn from them at the same time. 

Long, long time ago I read somewhere that kids in the States lag behind in knowledge of geography.  I noticed, when I got the chance to live here, that many people think of America as the center of the world, that everything here is the best and everyone out there (especially in developing countries) is still swinging in trees.  I’ve always wondered why they call their baseball championship  the World Series when , except for Canada, there are no teams from other countries playing in it.  Smells like  arrogance if you ask me.  And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.   

I don’t want my children growing up with that kind of mentality.  Hence the need for the globe — to teach them that there’s an interesting and maybe even better  world outside of America’s borders.  It’s a nice addition to the geography games I make my son play online .

Of course the world map is not very accurate, but it’s good enough to satisfy the curiosity of my eight-year-old.  I’m giving away four of them to three nieces and one nephew.  I still have eight more left for my kids. Plenty of reserve just in case they kick too hard and destroy one. Definitely one of  my best purchases.