I haven't bought anything plastic for the children's birthday. This is not to say I haven't bought anything from China though, because apparently all the trees in the world grow in China.
Somehow, though, I've gotten caught up with the craze of not wanting yucky plastic around. Because only the uninformed middle class buys plastic. Plastic is bad. Plastic is evil. Plastic is full of dangerous chemicals. Plastic is made from oil. Plastic is bad for the environment. Blah blah blah.
Wood stuff really does look nicer. But I tell you what, that wood stuff is expensive. Not to mention that I'm not totally sold on wood toys being better for the environment. I live right smack in the middle of the Mojave desert. There ain't any trees growing around here. Where are all the trees coming from to make all these wood toys?
China? The rainforest? I mean, seriously, where are they coming from? What if every single plastic toy in the world was suddenly replaced by wood, would we have any forests left?
Wood is heavy. Hauling and shipping wood must use a ton of energy. Trees have to be cut down. Then they have to be hauled to mills. How much energy does it take to produce one wood toy from start to finish?
Not to mention that I like forests and prefer they don't end up as toy trains or blocks.
But, nevertheless, I have bought all wood stuff for their birthday and am now responsible for the death of a dozen trees. I will personally see if it lasts any longer than the plastic crap. It's probably all crap and I just paid more for it. All my friends are buying their children electronic games like Leapsters and I'm buying my kids wood. What am I doing? Raising cave children?
Thanks to a comment 2 days ago from a lady named Donna, I went back to Target yesterday to see if the 75 percent toy sale was still going on. I found a bunch of empty shelves. SO I MISSED IT BY ONE DAY! But lo and behold, I found these awesome Kapla wood building stick things for 75 percent off. They are made in Morocco. Are there any trees in Morocco? I thought that was desert there.
So normally the wood stick building things are $45 for 100 sticks of wood. I can tell you that I would never in a million years bought those for $45. My hypocrisy only goes so far. But for $11 they seemed like a good deal.
We love them! Actually, I love them!
Get off the table Gregory. I need to put a roof on that baby!
I say to you, my electronic friends, can your children build this? Can they? HUH?
Balance and eye/hand coordination are required for this delicate process, my dear Sarah.
Very good my little cave child!
Okay, 100 sticks isn't nearly enough for us to build this. I'm finishing my blog right now and getting back to Target before the unenlightened Target shopper buys the rest of these. They were the only thing left on the shelf.
I need to be responsible for some more tree deaths today!
9 comments:
Everything that we purchased this Christmas was wood, with the exception of things that were given to us. I'll be doing a post very soon about the cool links I found in the course of my "research" (aka: my trip to the poor house).
I abhor plastic toys. ABHOR THEM. Especially plastic toys with parts. I don't even like plastic dolls. (GASP!) I literally opened my trash can and was throwing stuff away by the box load. Anything in decent shape went to Goodwill.
So far, the kids haven't missed the 5,000 pounds of which we disposed.
hmmm... good point about the amount of energy that goes into shipping of such a heavy material. but that all depends on where the wood comes from and where it's going to AND whether or not it is being transported for solely making wooden toys (the raw product that is). i dont think most are. nor am i convinced that their are entire rubberwood forests being destroyed for a very small toy industry (atleast compared to the production energy of uber processed plastic toys). i think it's a question of scale. which brings me back to my original thought... whether its plastic or wood, buying LESS all the way around seems like the logical response eh?
we bought/recieved nothing but wooden toys this year and have been really pleased with how they have held up. they sure seem to be faring better than the plastic crap, that's for sure! let's just hope they're not oooooozing with lead. ah, but that's a whole different problem!
I agree that we need to buy less stuff. I thought of that when I was flying in my car to Target to get MORE WOOD sticks! I need MORE MORE MORE. It's gotta stop! I'm glad to see at least two of my readers are also raising cave children. You would LOVE these building sticks. :)
Michelle,
Can I link over from my blog to your post on Red Dye? My inlaws are giving me a hard time about my choices on organic, so I'm trying to be very NICE and posting it on the blog before I go visit, so I won't have to be a big B*&^% it.
Thanks,
Kimberly and the GA Guinn Trips
www.guinnfamilyhome.com
Kimberly - Sure!!! Go ahead!
I just bought two 200 piece Kapla construction sets from their website for $120. So if you are getting 100 pieces for $11 at Target, that is a great price. I am so jealous.
Michelle - there is no law that says you can't buy wood toys AND electronics :-).
I too, love the wood toys. I have found that they really do hold up better (unless of course, the dog tries to eat them). I personally love the way the fell in my hands and the weight of it. In the past, I've found some really nice sets of wood blocks, etc at Tuesday morning. I've purchased a lot of German made building blocks from there (and they're inexpensive). My sister-in-law sent the boys a road and rail set from Plan toys - its pretty nice stuff: http://www.plantoys.com/2007/catalog.php?id=9
Laraine- You get the neatest stuff at Tuesday Morning. I've never been in there and I need to check it out! Don't worry. The only reason they aren't getting any electronics for their birthday is because I'm out of money. I'm also not throwing out any of their plastic stuff. I think if people pass on their plastic stuff to us, then we are keeping it out of the landfill. So I have no problem with "recycled" plastic stuff. I'm just looking for a balance between all the plastic junk and spending their college money on wood stuff. (If there is such a thing as balance! I have no idea. We all know I'm just winging it!)
michele - I could give you at least two good reasons why you shouldn't buy cardboard made in China, in case you ever decide you need cardboard for your cave children.
The girls got a lot of wooden toys for their birthday, mostly train stuff. Should I be worried that one of them was Thomas the train? (Lead fiasco)
I went to Target after reading that comment from Donna as well, and I did manage to find one object that was awesome and a really great price. My sister needed a present for Emma, and I found a programmable Barbie phone that talks and lights up, originally $30 on sale for $7.50. Bargain!
For what it's worth: Sometimes the resources that it takes to recycle plastic (and make it) are far greater than what it takes to buzz down some trees. I bet if it was possible to measure, per toy, those resources, wood would still be a better choice.
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