Batteries Not Included

So I started out in the Christmas Spirit and all excited about the holidays and THEN... I wanted to buy Cade and Davis the game battleship because it was one of my favorites as a kid. The problem is that you can no longer find anywhere that sells the regular version. Today they only sell electronic battleship! After many weeks of searching I began to notice and get irritated with every traditional game being "computerized." Now they even have a fast pay monopoly. The only fun in that game was fighting over who was going to be the banker in the first place. Why? Why must they do this to all my favorite childhood games? In October I was searching for a jump rope (Easton really wanted one, don't ask why!) and could not find a child's jump rope anywhere. Finally I found one in a catalog but it was pink or purple which just won't do. Our country has a childhood obesity epidemic and you can't find a simple jump rope anymore, does anyone else see the connection? The final straw came this weekend when I went to get Cade a hula hoop. They learned to do it in PE and Cade is really good. He just stands there and the thing moves around him like magic, you have to see it. Jeremy's work had a family picnic and there was a contest where you had to walk around , hop on one foot, move forward and backwards, all while keeping the hoop going. Cade nearly won so I thought it would be fun for him to do at home. (Also, I am very competitive and want him to practice for next year to win the stinking contest!) Back to my chief complaint. Well now they have electronic hula hoops! That was it. I feel like boycotting Christmas, since that ain't happening, I am boycotting batteries. No toys with lights, or sounds or anything that requires batteries this year. When Cade was two, he had a little push truck and was rolling it on the ground and stopped and looked up at me and said, "mom this is broken, it needs batteries." I told him that he had to make his own noises and move it himself, he thought that was the coolest thing ever. I feel like sometimes we cheat our kids out of some of the most simplest yet fun experiences of childhood because we buy toys that read "BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED."