R e t a r d e d - N e w s - F i l e:
11-26-07 From CNN
Parents, use caution at toy-shopping time
From Kevin
It's been all over the headlines lately, all the dangers with toys and lead. Look, I'm a marketing guy. I know how we tend to work...we're looking for a fire to yell about and get credit for the attention. We as a society have to realize that most of the media headlines and cautionary hub-bub are...questionable, at best.
Read that article, then think about it... We have parents, grandparents and a long line of ancestry, that didn't live in the tidy little sterile world of wood, steel and concrete that we do today. Babies crawled around on splintery wood floors with cracks that let in lizards and snakes. There were electric outlets and cupboard doors that weren't equipped with an arsenal of baby-safe latches and covers. They crawled or toddled outside into...gasp...yards. Grass, twigs, dirt, animal poo... Just think of the horrors!
No car seat laws. I wonder how they put car seats on horses??
Toys were sticks, pieces of wood, a marble. And if the kid put it in their mouths, they got a quick flick and "NO-NO!" A quick cry and they didn't do that anymore.
Now MY child...had proper toys. Electric gadgets that taught ABCs, colors, shapes and sounds and trigonometry... For teething, a vast array of scientifically proven, frozen plastic shapes. Though as I recall, my 3 year old's favorite teether was the handle of a short screw driver he liked to pull out of my often open toolbox. Yep, call human services. This is probably why today he...acts like a 3 year old.
Come on folks, this hype stuff is retarded. Let's take evasive action and just not buy our kids any more toys, they'll just have to make due with the mountain of toys they have now that they don't play with. Try this, when your kids is crying and pulling at your pant leg while you are trying to fix it dinner...go into their room and methodically pitch every toy out the window of your 4th floor condo. Then leave a wooden toy car or doll alone in the middle of the floor. The kid will then be enthralled with the one toy that they can now pick out from what used to be an overstimulated jungle, and the media will have a heyday with headlines about the danger of "Toys Fall From Sky: Santa Must Be Regulated!"
PIc - that's good, clean fun. Watch your little brother plant himself in a plastic tub, flip over and bust his head!
Am I unfair here, should we heed all the warnings? Do our kids deserve more toys? The comment link is up at the top of this entry. Let me and others know your thoughts and we'll discuss it here.
