Where are the toys?

I am watching Larry King’s special, featuring the tour of the Texas compound, by one of the Fundamentalist LDS women. The lack of toys is striking. The place seems so neat and tidy, yet almost sterile. The woman, who is showing the camera around, keeps remarking how the children are gone, making reference to the quiet.

As she takes the camera through the bedrooms used by the children and mothers, you would expect to see abandoned toys, perhaps a doll sitting alone in the corner, or some wagons or trucks. She shows the camera her daughter’s baby book, and says how her daughter looks at it all the time. Yes, I imagine she would, as there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of books and toys on the premises.

As a mother I try to feel sorry for the women, yet I will confess, I find it difficult to connect with the women on the screen. They are from another world, and I imagine to them, we appear to be from another word.