It can’t have escaped anyone’s notice this penchant the world has for keeping toys in their original packaging for 30 years (and since when has 1981 become vintage?) and then listing them on an online auction expecting them to have gained enough value that the seller could then purchase a used sports car.
My first reasoning for this unorthodox behaviour of placing slightly higher aspirations upon these items than they can reasonably be expected to bear was that many people must be under the impression that once obtained, a child will, undoubtably wish to rip off and discard the box in order to play with it’s contents. But since I have had a child of my own, and thus had more than ample reason to peruse the brightly coloured shelves of toy emporiums nationwide, I have reached a different conclusion.
Today we all went shopping in order to spend the little one’s birthday money and, after long and careful thought, we decided that toys were the best way forward. So, with this in mind we set off in search of purveyors of toys, games and generally all things imaginative, bright and educational. As little one had kindly been given a voucher to be used on anything she cared to buy from Mothercare or ELC, we made the Early Learning Centre our first port of call and we were delighted to find that their ‘Happy Land’ range of toys had a ‘buy one get one free’ offer extending to all toys with a big, round, purple sticker adorning the front of the box. Naturally, I spent a considerable amount of time choosing the best deal while the little one made it clear to daddy that she wanted to get her socks filthy by walking him round the shop. I made my selection, bought two play sets and saved £16 (for which I was very grateful) and we left the store as satisfied customers.
Once we got home, I decided that in order for little one to play with her new purchases, I would need to extricate them from their cardboard prisons. Firstly, I came up against sticky tape. Enough sticky tape to hold together separating tectonic plates. Once a good ten minutes had been spent, I then pulled the inner section from the box and found that every section of each individual piece in the play set was held fast by not one but three pieces of wire which passed through two punctures in the back cardboard and fastened behind. I set to my task with fast dwindling enthusiasm and after 15 minutes had decided that maybe the main reason toys stayed in their boxes was that parents simply hadn’t got the time to sit for an hour apiece and unwrap them.
Either that or, as happened with the little one, children are actually far more content to play with anything you have to hand.
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