Apparently, my children will be getting string, a couple of sticks and maybe a shiny rock or two for Christmas as it appears that every toy on the commercial market today is actually some sort of deathtrap exported out of China. It reminds me of the old Saturday Night Live Skit where Dan Akroyd is the unscrupulous toy maker selling such treasures as "Bag of Glass" or "Board with Nails Sticking Out of It." I'm sure you could find it at Youtube if you want to watch it. It's a classic.
Pickle had her heart set on Aquadots...so that's out. Polly Pockets? Nope. Dora/Elmo/Fisher Price/Mattel - not on your life.
In general, we don't buy a lot of toys. If you ask the Land Baron, we have too many as is. I know lots of parents who buy something for their children every time they go out shopping - or that a trip to Toys R Us is a form of entertainment. I won't even step foot in that place. I loathe everything about it. Occasionally there is a small toy as a special treat, but mostly, just Christmas and birthdays. It's my little stand against consumerism. I am inconsistent and don't always follow this rule but at least having the rule gives me a goal to strive towards. I suppose if I had a 3,500 square foot house I might not notice all the stuff, but since space is a premium in our little corner of the neighborhood, everything in the house better be put to good use. Otherwise it's just taking up premium real estate.
The dilemma for me is that while I hate all that plastic, mass-marketed stuff, my oldest daughter doesn't. Luckily, a used toy is often just as good as a new one. Several of her toys were acquired through Freecycle and Craigslist. A few others I picked up at consignment shops. I feel a little bit better knowing that we're recycling some of this plastic and will eventually also pass them along to another child to love as well. And Pickle & Pepper do have the largest dress-up box of any of their friends. Plus, send them outside into the yard and they make up wonderful games and interesting stories.
While I would love to buy handmade, wooden, paper and cloth toys exclusively, it is a costly process. I try to balance it all out a bit by buying from a wonderful locally owned toy shop in the area. They carry almost none of the typical mass-marketed toys and buy toys that use natural products. But again, it can be expensive. The simple answer is to just have less but better toys. In a culture like ours, however, sometimes the sheer number of ponies you have brings the greater joy.
But this year the debacle that is the toy industry may just put me over the edge. The girls may in fact unwrap boxes filled with shells and pebbles and sticks - they might not like it, but at least I know that the worse they can do is poke their eyes out.
Seems like a better gamble than buying a toy from a mass retailer.
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2 comments:
We tend to get the kids a lot of books for Chanuka. Then Santa brings things like dvds, board games and leapster games. Luckily, A1 is not into toys very much and A2 is starting to be interested in other things more too. It would be impossible to buy toys for an infant or even 1 yr old this year with all the recalls.
It's true. I can't imagine having a real little one this year and trying to buy. What I struggle with this year is that the girls don't need anything-even when it comes to toys. We've got blocks and kitchen stuff and crafts and ponies and dress-up etc. etc. I'm trying to weed it all out and get rid of what they don't play with, but there isn't much at this point. So I'm stuck with a year of basically adding similar things to what they already have.
It's a tough position many of us are in this year I think.
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