I think we should have a rule that if you want to design products for kids, you should be currently raising some, or involved in caring for them on a very regular basis. I say this because I recently bought some bathtub crayons, thinking they would be so much fun for the kids. They were fun for the kids, but the fun didn't stay in the bathtub. There was abstract art decorating the fronts and backs of several of the white doors in the house. The marks from these washable bathtub crayons don't come off white woodwork, as we have found out the hard way. The cleanup in the bathroom hasn't been easy either. I've spent a good part of an afternoon with a grout brush and Comet, trying to get the mess cleaned up. When I naively purchased these crayons, I thought what a nice educational activity it would be, to practice writing letters in the bathtub. What my kids did, in addition to some fairly good penmanship, was to outline each tile on the wall. Yes, all the grout within reach of kids (and I suspect someone stood on the side of the tub, to increase their range) is stained with several bright colors. With a lot of elbow grease and the trusty grout brush I finally got most of it cleaned up.
There are some other things in the toy section that I really wonder about. There are these little bouncy balls, with pictures or tiny figures stuck inside, that I think are called squeenkies, or something like that. I'm not sure what the point of them is, because they are very small and most kids would get tired of bouncing them around and trying to catch them fairly quickly. Probably it is one of those devilish toys where the point is that parents buy them, as many different ones as possible, and the kids just collect them. All I can think of is that they are the perfect size to block a windpipe. When we pass these potentially deadly devices in the toy section, I try to distract my kids. "Hey, was that a bird flying over us?" I will not allow those things in my house. And don't even get me started on legos, which I firmly believe reproduce themselves. I find tiny ones everywhere. Or else I step on one. Since I wear shoes, it doesn't hurt me, but there is this distinctive cracking sound. The kids look at me like I am a horrible person, breaking the toys of innocent little kids. These are the same toys that they have been told should not be left laying around on the floor. The most dangerous toy to step on is a tinkertoy. It doesn't matter if you have shoes on or not. You step on one of those little things and you are suddenly on the rolling log game from hell. You can't win against a tinkertoy, especially if you couldn't see what you were stepping on because you were carrying an overloaded laundry basket. If my grandparents come to visit, I have to confiscate them. They are hard to see and elderly people with replacement hips certainly don't need to have to try to dodge them. But, they are very fun and educational for the kids. I never knew this before becoming a mom. I had no idea that buying an educational toy could end up with me falling flat on the ceramic tiles. I guess educaiion is important enough to make sacrifices for.
