In the spirit of the season, it’s time for a festive post.
My kids are slightly past the Santa stage. The Barbies and Legos* generally stay on the shelf nowadays. (The Beanie Babies went feral and escaped into the crawl space.) But for those of you still wondering what to get that special tot, check out this article on the ten most dangerous toys of all time. From lawn darts to the Fisher Price motorcycle for toddlers, these gifts guarantee Yuletide mayhem. Take particular note of the Atomic Energy Lab, with a real alpha source and Uranium ore. The kit boasts “safe radioactive materials”. Yes, and coming next year, the Safe Reptile Petting Zoo, with real cobras.
*Or, for British and Canadian readers, Lego.
3 responses so far ↓
susan // December 21, 2006 at 12:42 am
Isn’t is MARVELLOUS what you can learn on the Internet?
I can’t help responding with one of my favourite educational websites
http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards.html
Chilled Celery Log, anyone? Perfect refresher after a few quick rounds of Lawn Darts. (Honey, did you count the kids?)
Patti // December 21, 2006 at 1:49 am
Oh the joy! I’ve seen the weightwatchers cards before…most of the recipes (fish tacos…mmmm) probably worked as aversion therapy.
I do miss lawn darts. They were absolutely fabulous when thrown off the roof of my grandfather’s workshop into hoola hoops spread around the backyard. Sometimes those hoola hoops contained younger cousins. Sigh.
That any of us made it to adulthood is well nigh miraculous. I had a “car seat” that probably should have stopped me in my tracks by age 2. The purpose of car seats in 1964 or thereabouts was not to protect the child, but to raise them to a height sufficient to be able to look out the window. Mine was openly hostile to children. It was tippy because of its height, so my dad, the safety conscious soul who had the 1963 Austen retrofitted with rear seatbelts, rigged some straps and hooks to keep me from being catapulted into the front seat every time the car stopped. As an added feature, it had a wee steering wheel affixed to the end of a pole a little thinner around than a broomstick, at just about the right height and angle to pierce that nice soft spot where the two sides of the ribcage diverge and a number of important internal gooey bits reside.
Ken // December 21, 2006 at 9:14 am
As a kid I was downright reckless but certianly not wreckless. As a parent I was less so, (on both counts). As a grandparent I’m absolutely paranoid. What happened? Did I become wiser or just more circumspect? I still enjoy rock music and even listen to some of the newer bands, I’m still adventurous. Maybe we’ve all just become paranoid about our children. I would definitely draw the line at placing radioactive materials within easy reach of budding chemists. The conspiracy theorists wiil probably have us believing it’s a way of preventing future teenage pregnancies.
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