I have a (probably overblown) Christmas dilemma.
A couple of years ago, I got Anders some Christmas presents that all related to the
Swallows and Amazons books I had been reading to him--a tent, a (cheap) brass telescope in a wooden case, a (toy) green parrot, a compass, etc.
Now (after we had gotten him various presents already) he's started asking me to do the same sort of thing, but with Star Wars stuff. Typically for Anders, he's being cagey about the details of what he wants, but he usually has expectations; probably a lightsaber, I'd guess.
But I have really mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, Anders is a really good kid, and I hate to disappoint him. On the other, I'm not at all happy about buying lots of Brand Name Toys, or with the way kids get fed commercial replacements for their own imaginations. Plus a lot of the Star Wars stuff is pretty violent for a 7-year-old -- battle this and destroyer that.
To be fair, I did make him a wooden sword for his samurai Halloween costume, so he's not exactly ignorant of the world of weapons. But we've always avoided guns and other "war toys," so I'm wavering. I resent being put in this position by their successful marketing program. (Anders, who is too tightly wound to deal with the intense input of action movies, has never seen a Star Wars film, but hears about it all the time from other kids, and in Lego marketing stuff.)
So far, I have gotten him a Lego "starfighter" spaceship set, since he loves Legos. But I'm not sure how much farther I ought to go with this with weapons, etc.
Anybody have any thoughts?