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A China-free Christmas
By adamg on Wed, 08/15/2007 - 8:20am
Miguelina grows disgusted at all the recalls of toxic Chinese stuff and vows not to buy a single made-in-China toy this Christmas:
... Non-Chinese toys too expensive? Great! We'll buy less toys - but better made ones. That way there will be less plastic crap all over the house. ...
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Comments
Mattel recalls
I'm totally on board with buying fewer higher quality items rather than loads of plastic crap. But the reports I've heard have stated that Mattel does much more thorough testing and recalls items much more often than a lot of other companies. Also, if you look where the things we buy are made, a huge number of items, including a lot of high-quality items, are made in China. It isn't just cheap plastic crap coming from China. Mattel also makes a lot of high-end stuff, and they have a great safety record (we won't get into my feelings about motherfuckin Barbie). I'd imagine there are huge numbers of toys with lead paint or unsecured magnets from other manufacturers out there being purchased and used because their manufacturers don't test the finished products like Mattel did. Personally, I think it's pretty impressive that they caught the lead paint. This gives me confidence in the company.
Quote:loads of plastic
Well, I like Lego, which I assume is all made in Denmark, but maybe I'm wrong about that. Anyone know for sure?
Where my Legos at?
According to Wikipedia, Lego has plants in Denmark, the Czech Republic, Singapore, and Mexico.
Legos are the awesomest thing ever, but I haven't even seen a plain old big box of Legos in years; stores only seems to carry those stupid Lego playsets intended to build one specific robot, spaceship, or Officially Licenced Blockbuster Movie Pirate Shipâ„¢. These come with the exact number of blocks and pieces required to build the thing pictured on the box, and instructions on how to do so. Perhaps these are for especially dumb children, who find basic Legos to be too "difficult" or "challenging", and possibly kids who have more Ritalin in their blood than creativity. I just want a big bucket of blocks. I mean... my umm friend's kids want them.
SSSSHHHHH!!!!
We're headed to San Diego friday night. The "l" word is now forbidden since it leads to paroxysms of mournful boy whining and cries of "when are we going to get to LEGOLAND"!!! "I want Friday to come! I want to see LEGOLAND!!!"
Can't get any further from the truth
The sets don't just build one thing - the parts are interchangeable. My kids have used the pieces of the bionicles to build hybridized creatures out of pure imagination and mechanical ability.
This is once they put aside the building of duplo bridges and buildings for their Brio trains.
They way I look at it is they are at least an action figure that comes unassembled. They are also accessible for price - a couple weeks allowance and a good sale at Target. If you want them to be functional, you have to learn to follow complex directions for putting gears and linkages together. Through building the toys, kids learn to understand some basic things about these gears and linkages. After that, they start messing around with more complicated constructions of their own designs.
Then they start putting together gas grills and IKEA cabinetry and taking apart gronked blenders and fixing bikes.
If you want the "traditional" boxes, try Lego Creator sets. The Construction Zone in Waltham carries the good stuff at good prices, as well as WoodyClick and other building sets.
As for "stupid kids today", IQ is rising in the eastern US because the younger generations are not nearly as heavily lead poisoned as previous generations - the typical east coast kid of the 70s would be put into chelation therapy today. Then again, Denmark had no such problem because the tetraethyl lead and lead paint industries didn't overrule their public health apparatus.
Thanks for the tip on the
Thanks for the tip on the Waltham place; I'm buyin' me some Lego blocks!
My inner nerdy child still stands by the vast superiority of plain old Legos, but points taken. Of course, I have no kids, so the rantings of an early-20-something man who plays with toys can be taken with a grain of salt, as it were.