Healthy Toys

There was an interview on the news today with a mother who got so tired of trying to check all of the toys in her house for lead recalls that she packed up all of the toys, packed the kids in the car and drove them over to the Mattel headquarters in El Segundo.

What she concluded with at the end of the interview was not a big rant on dangerous toys but the fact that she is going to get rid of a lot of the toys that are not dangerous and reduce the amount of toys that her kids do have because they do not NEED so many toys!

When the recalls started, I really sighed a breath of relief that my daughter (now 13) only played with handmade toys. The soft ones were made by me and the wooden ones by small companies that I knew and trusted. And for the most part, we never had the "too many toys" syndrome because there was a wood toy basket and a baby doll basket. She had never been in a Toys 'R Us until she was 11 and she walked in, shrugged her shoulders and asked me why there was so much stuff. (she also never knew that there was such a thing as Saturday morning cartoons until she was 11 and remains unconverted.)

Reducing the amount of toys that our children expect will teach them to also be conscientious consumers and is a lot healthier mentally and physically!

Here is a link to some toys ideas:

http://www.craftzine.com/blog/archive/2007/08/safe_toys_you_can_make.html

If you are not crafty, don't forget about Etsy.com and support independent artisans!