Saturday, February 9th, 2008
Dust off those toys from your childhood and give them to a young friend
For those of you who are parents of young kids, or those that 
are looking to give a child a gift, check your attic before going to that mega store to buy some new mass produced molded plastic or electronic toy.
While visiting my in-laws this weekend with my 3 year old twins, it amazed me that the favorite new toy was something my wife played with as a kid 30 years ago. They have lots of new toys (i.e. those made in the past year or two) at their grand parents to play with as well as a bunch of toys from my wife and her sibblings’ childhood. Most of their favorite toys are not the new ones, but rather the well used ones. Maybe it is that only the favorite toys, like a Fisher Price School House or Seasame Street block, were selected to be stored for later use . Maybe it is that young kids aren’t exposed to as much mega media advertisement and so aren’t fixated on having the latest thing on TV.
Whatever the reason is, by choosing a used toy over buying a new one, you’ll help save the environment by reusing something that has already been produced, save a little money and make a little one very happy. If it has been in your closet or basement for a while, clean it well before making your favorite bundle of joy more joyful.
The photo of the tug boat is the actual toy that my kids have been playing with since arriving at their grand parents this weekend.
on Sunday, February 10th, 2008 at 1:35 pm:
Old school. I love it! I’ve recently discovered the joys of shopping at Goodwill — pretty much the same concept. Awesome stuff that already exists, so no new plastic, no extra energy going into producing it, etc. I get CDs, movies, electronics, furniture, even clothes there now. And of course other second hand and antique stores. It’s the bomb.
on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 3:46 am:
Hi there! Great post, I absolutely agree. Funny though how I’ve found it… Our 2yr old son loves the yellow fisher price boat, too. Unfortunately it’s so old that it broke into peaces the other day.
So I was wondering: would you or the new “owners” sell it or trade it in?
Thanks for letting me know!
Cheers
Martin