If you're anything like me, those two words together make you cringe, grind your teeth a little, and - perhaps - start to twitch around your right eye. Not that I would know anything about that.
As moms, we all have those pet peeves we can't seem to get over. While they may seem trivial to some outsiders, they are very real and very big to those of us who take issue with them. "Age appropriate" is one of mine. You know, those seemingly harmless little numbers on every toy on the market...the ones that guide the consumer by telling them what age group said toy should be appropriate for on a developmental scale.
I vote we do away with these damned things altogether. Who's with me?
This Christmas, The Princess received a gift card to Toys 'R' Us and some cash from a couple of her great aunties and uncles. A couple of months before Christmas, The Hubbs' iPad crapped out, so our girl had been without her touch-screen educational apps for a while by that point.
Thinking we were doing something good, we threw in about $30 of our own money along with the gift card and cash, and we purchased a LeapFrog LeapPad2 from our local Toys 'R' Us. The age range on the package was 3-9 years. The Princess is going to turn 6 in April.
Well. You can see where this is going, can't you?
The LeapFrog LeapPad2 is lightyears ahead of my girl's abilities. Forget the fact that you have to purchase games and apps separately...I'll just focus on the developmental challenges.
On-off switch? Fine.
Login screen where the child has to choose his or her picture and name from a field of at least 5 choices, even if he or she is the only user? Discouraging.
The fact that the Internet cannot be accessed on the machine itself? Perfect. Exactly what I wanted.
Level of verbal instructions given for each and every game/app the thing came with? Far too advanced.
General process for getting into desirable locations and getting things done? Way too complicated.
Thankfully, our local Toys 'R' Us agreed to let us return the tablet for a cash refund and $25 store credit that same day. I was feeling about "this big" by that time. You know how it goes. The fact that they were willing to work with us made it a little better.
Once I got over myself, we made another trip to the same store a couple of days later. This trip was miles better than the one before. The Princess found two toys she absolutely loves. The fact that they each have an age range of 9-36 months does not bother me in the slightest. In fact, I believe I've learned a little lesson here.
I'm done with age range labels. Who the hell are you, you pretentious, colorful cardboard box, to tell me what's appropriate for my kid. She smiles, it's all good. And you can shove those age ranges where the smiley-face yellow cartoon sun don't shine.
Tip on the LeapPad idea -- head over to Ebay and get the Princess a My First LeapPad (Here's one auction that's expiring soon...)
ReplyDeleteThey don't make these anymore, it's older technology, but they were marketed for pre-school which is when Rose got hers. Joy began rocking the hand-me-down at about age 7. Still loves it at 8. We've picked up a replacement or two at local thrift stores, as she wore Rose's out!! All you really need to master to enjoy it is the on/off, and touching the pen to the green "Go" circle on each page. Then touch the pen anywhere else on the picture and enjoy what happens. There are games with verbal instructions you can choose, but it doesn't really matter whether you can follow them yet or not (Joy can't, not yet, but it means we expect the toy to give yet another level of fun-and-learning later on.)
In general, we love the LeapFrog stuff. But yeah, we've kind of had to toss the age-range thing out the window. Cheers!
Ooh, thanks for the tips, JoyMama! I know how that is...she has lots of toys that have been favorites since she was little. Anytime we see one at a resale shop or garage sale, we grab it as a spare. Nothing worse than when the favorite toy goes kablooey!
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