Holiday Shopping Tip #1: When buying toys, think "age-appropriate"

Following are just two recent examples of age-inappropriate toys that have met a hasty demise at our house.

Hand Crafted Native American Collector Doll


Although the packaging clearly stated that this was "For display only. Ages 8 and up," Grandma, for some unknown reason, felt that my daughter needed to have this doll when she was just six months old. My task, then, was to store the doll for the next seven and a half years, taking care to keep it out of her sight until she reached the level of maturity that she no longer liked dolls and would leave it alone.

Unfortunately, there was a glitch in the plan when my little girl was 19 months old. We were in the midst of packing and somehow she discovered this "baby." Grandma just happened to be visiting and decided that 19 months was close enough to 8 years, so my daughter started carrying her new "baby" around everywhere. That is, until the second day, when she dropped baby on the concrete and baby's head got smashed to bits.

I sent the doll home with Grandma, with instructions to please not bring it back until the kid was eight. Grandma impressively reconstructed the head with a liberal amount of glue and returned with it shortly after my daughter's second birthday. This time the doll lasted three days before it fell on the wood floor and "baby" got her face smashed in again:



Miniature Indoor Remote Control Helicopters


These were purchased by my husband during my recent trip to Hawaii, so I'm not sure if they ever actually flew around the house as they are supposedly designed to do. By the time I saw them in action, all they did was spin around an inch off the floor, ricocheting off people's legs like dying June bugs.

I have no idea what the recommended age is for this toy, all I know is these helicopters did not last long with our 6-and-under crowd.

And in case you are wondering--no, the red one is not supposed to be bent like that.