Holiday Tech Toys: What NOT To Buy

[Guest]

Don't buy this stuff for your kid! Helpful pointers for navigating the sea of dangerous or simply annoying kid-targeted tech crap. Beware!

Holiday Tech Toys: What NOT To Buy : Read more

 

[Guest]

I like this article a lot. Not what I expect from Tom's as far as topic, but I got a 1 year old who just got a large loud flashing toy from grandparents. We live in a small apartment yes it takes up space and yes it makes noise, but what bothers me the most is the instant gratification ADD effect. My daughter just slaps anywhere on the toy and it talks or plays a tune, this is supposed to be an educational toy. At least it has Spanish and English it gives me incentive to talk to my daughter in Spanish so she knows that speaking Spanish doesn't necessarily mean speaking like you're OD on Lithium.

 

[m@rc]

lol 9 of 8 pages

 

[hellwig]

I think the 9th page should also have talked about not needing to trample some poor walmart employee to death just to pick up that stupid toy either. Seriously, were people so desperate to get a good deal they didn't notice stepping on another human being as they ran into the store?

How old is tickle me elmo anyway? I have to think some people who got the original must be old enough to buy it for their own kids now days.

 

[gamefreak62]

Sadly, this article is extremely useful and relevant. I remember loads of toys I was overjoyed to receive but never played with because I couldn't afford to, such as a neat battery powered remote control race car or a educational learn how to type toy laptop. Most unfortunately, I grew up with computers and have long since held the ability to type faster than thirty words a minute without looking at the keyboard and maneuver around PC's better than most adults. Additionally, that race car was the subject of the next three years of Christmas lists because I really did want to play with it, but couldn't afford the special batteries that went into it. According to the mentality of parents, they look at the gift list and think, "He doesn't really want rechargeable batteries, he's just thinks it's neat", so they never bought it for me. After three years I gave up on it. Seven years later, I'm an adult with a job and and a never used race car in my closet. I could buy the battery now, but it just doesn't interest me anymore and is hardly age appropriate.