I do not think I have set foot in a branch of Toys R Us for over twenty years until this weekend and, if I have my way, I never will again. It is Florence's birthday in a week or two and she loves My Little Pony. Helen is not overwhelmed with joy at this, but I pointed out to her that she and her sister had a mammoth collection of same when small, plus assorted Sylvanian families, so there was not a lot she could say.
So off I went to have a look at their stock and drove to the one on the outskirts of Ipswich in the pouring rain and walked inside and came to a grinding halt as the lilac and pink onslaught of colour hit me. Aisle after aisle of the most revoltingly garishly hued plastic tat, all expensive and all guaranteed to be chucked within half an hour of receipt. The Lego section was OK of course though that forward looking company has now produced Lego for Girls, PINK, which is totally unnecessary and ghastly.
Two aisles of Barbies and accessories, then Sylvanian families then dressing up clothes, all Disney in shades of mauve, sugar babe pink and silver glitter, tiaras and plastic gaudy jewellery. I was totally overwhelmed by all this and had to ask a young man to take me gently by the hand and lead me to the My Little Pony section which he duly did and I chose one for Florence in blue and white.
I decided to take a look at the I Made it Myself section. There are two – Girls and Boys and my feminist instincts came surging to the surface. Every single box set was highly coloured, every single box was showing pictures of simpering little girls (all heavily made up) displaying lurid plastic bangles that you could make should your parents be daft enough to shell out for the craft kit, glitter for nails, hair bands etc etc. There were knitting sets, but again, lurid colours and plastic needles which will last five minutes. Vile.
Now do not get me wrong. I certainly do not think that every single toy has to be educational, has to be made of wood, has to be long lasting – a bit of throw away tat does not do a child any harm (comes into its own at Christmas time) but the sheer onslaught of all this awful stuff made me feel quite nauseous and I left the store suffering from sensory overload.
OK you may think this is an extreme reaction and you may be right but boy was I glad to get out of there.
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