Published by Ellen Serber under Retail, Sustainable Products

New York City kids go to the Metropolitan Museum for fun, cultural uplifting, and enlightenment. My California grandson prefers to go shopping.

Somehow this active three-and-a-half-year-old convinced me that if I wanted him to use the potty seat for its intended purpose, I had to motivate him with a “poop prize” of a Power Ranger or Transformer doll.

Grandmas sometimes acquiesce, sometimes not. This time Zane used his innate sense of timing, and caught me with my no-no’s down.

There I was, lost in the big-box toy store, following skippy Zane in pursuit of his heart’s desire, somewhere near the bicycles. He already knew his way around this surreal made-in-China landscape, which was more than a little scary to this street-savvy East Coast-born grandma.

He lined up his candidates, and after much debate, made his choice. Laden with plunder, we staggered toward the bank of cash registers up front.

We nearly made it out the door, but I lost him again when a video monitor placed next to the check-out line swallowed his little soul. I now suspect there is a course in architecture school on putting together these Minotaur’s labyrinths. A key feature is mandatory deployment of video screens near the exit. Children who have almost made it back to freedom are lured into a Sartrean no-exit loop.

My respect for Santa greatly enhanced, I decided to look further into this dark, new Toyland.

CBS News reported that more than 25 million toys were recalled in 2007, mostly on account of lead contamination in items imported from China.  In response, president-elect Obama promised in December 2007 to “stop the import of all toys from China…that’s about 80% of the toys that are being imported now” to the U.S.

A few days later he softened the commitment, saying that if elected, he would double the funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission mandate to test more toys before they’re put on store shelves, not just respond to crises after the fact.

Lead is not the only hazardous substance found in today’s toys. According to the National Toxicology Program, phthalates—chemicals that give plastics their elasticity—have been shown to produce genital defects in children when pregnant mothers come into repeated contact with toys whose manufacture includes this group of chemicals. Phthalates are also linked to cancer in laboratory rats, and to infertility in adults.

Plastic toys may also contain PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride), a substance that releases harmful toxins, or BPA (Bisphenol A), a compound in plastic that is dangerous when heated. Poop prize, indeed.

And this addresses only the issue of actively used toys. I wonder where the dolls and action figures go after the new wears off — a time frame that for many tots amounts to the blink of an eye. We can’t just throw the things away; there is no “away.” Their next stop is landfills, because there is no method for recycling the plastic they’re made with.

Cheap, unhealthy toys; mountains of toxic plastic in the dump; huge trade deficits—what can concerned parents/grandparents and other loving adults do?

We can stop buying junk toys, of course. Our current nationwide economic collapse opens the door to a new way to judge how we spend. Or, through the eyes of this grandmother, an old way. Here are some commonsense thoughts.

Don’t be sucked in by your little loved one’s mania of the moment to acquire useless plastic items that break easily and can’t be recycled. Try to have more character than I did!

Buy toys at small, local stores whose proprietors personally choose creative, long-lasting toys. Or look for a webstore that sells high-quality goods, like Green Toys or Tree Hollow Toys.

Here are some toys that I recall buying for Zane’s father when he was a boy: kid-sized musical instruments (sure to drive your neighbors insane, but lots of fun); large pads of paper together with crayons, finger-paints, colored pencils, and rubber stamps; a soccer ball; wooden puzzles and cardboard board games; or books, from your local independent bookstore.

There’s nothing surprising on my list, it just invites a return to more natural materials and longer-lasting toys and games. Lest I sound like a Grinch: I’m all for fun stuff, but I place more value in critical judgment as to what the entertainment and video game industries tell us fun stuff is. After all, I love my grandson!

Before I close, here are a few more suggestions—a sneak preview of the new Green by Design webstore that is coming soon. Take a peek at a few of my favorites…

Offi Spaceframe Builders Kit

Mountain Boy Sledworks Butterfly Wagon

Sprig Rally Racer

Roebuck Studio’s Bunny Scooter

The Earth Friends Organic Rag Dolls

Happy holidays!