Crapola in a Box

Cecilia and I were walking around the Columbia mall today since it was raining outside and we browsed the KBToystore. I saw a toy that seemed to resemble a toy my brothers and I had when we were young. The one we had was a long rectangular toy with 4 different doors on top and four different devices along the front, one for each door. The devices, when activated either by pushing, turning, flipping, etc., popped open the door on top and a small head of Mickey or Elmo or some other character popped up. The toy I saw today did not have any well-known characters but the idea was the same - four different devices to open four different doors. Curious, I activated all four doors but was surprised when I saw that the four heads that popped up were bobble heads, the springs of which I could see along their "necks." I thought, "geez, my daughter would open each door and make a beeline for heads and pull those things off in no time."

It seems that many of the toys companies push on little children nowadays are basically cheap crap not intended to last very long but always costs too much. I don't mind buying toys, but I at least want them to be of such quality as to last through at least a few children. I'm not saying all modern toys are crapola in a box, but it seems to me that the toy stores push quite number of them.