Hood-winked

I have now been in my role of distinguished grandfather and exulted Paw-Paw for slightly over two years. I have also had the pleasure of up close and personal observations of the Russian twins, Ivan and Sergetov. I have watched them grow and play and holler and cry and snuggle. And, I have come to a single, logical conclusion; parents and grandparents are the worst consumers in the world.

We strive to get everything we possibly can to get our children's children off to a good start in this world. Clothes are one thing and I relegate that duty solely to the women of the family. I can't tell an eighteen month onesy(?) from a toddler jumpsuit. They all look the same size to me. My Beloved often just stares at me in wonderment at my ineptitude.

However, the toys are my department and I am almost as inept in that area. It's not the toy itself or the intent on which I buy them, but how they are marketed to me. Picture the red and blue boxes they come in with a smiling child diligently and happily pushing whatever is inside. We think back to the times when we played as children running cars on the tracks and pushing them down the ramps just like the picture.

That is so misleading as to be comical. I have now watched Ragin Cage and the Russians doing everything with their toys but what is pictured on the box. The cars are thrown, stomped on and beat with any plastic stick or rod. The ramps are trampled underfoot like Godzilla in downtown Tokyo, and broken within hours. Every Lil Tikes plastic thing is rammed into walls and bounced off someones head.

So it is us who are the most gullible of the consumer groups, not the teens or the tweens or the yuppies or the Xs or Ys. It's time we empty-nesters looked into the mirror and said; "wow am I stupid!"