The maker of this toy is trying to create a positive branding experience. This brand exposure will create a lasting impression that will affect your child’s behavior over the next 18 years and beyond. By exposing kids to brands rather than experiences, you will help mold their thinking and hone their consumer receptiveness. Studies have shown that these toys, with their bright colors and easy-to-use features, produce uniformly under-performing children who later become credit card abusers.

CAUTION

The manufacturer of the toy will urge you to quickly eliminate the packing materials that this toy is shipped in. They will claim that this is for the sake of your child’s safety, when in reality what they are concerned with is the very real possibility that the packaging is more interesting than the toy. Should this be the case, we encourage you to let your child have the box, the styrofoam, and the plastic bag marked “Danger — Suffocation Hazard.” Rest assured that under your benevolent eye, the only thing in danger of suffocation is your child’s imagination when you leave him with only the boring contents to play with.

WARNING

Commercially produced plastic toys create a narrowed interaction expectation on the part of the child. The impossibly clean lines and limited play modes offered by these mass-produced, reduced-risk-of-injury designs establish boundaries that your child will quickly adapt to and accept. This mode of limited “play” will affect how your child approaches problem solving and undermine her natural curiosity.