Where Did All The Sturdy Toys Go?
Call me old fashioned, but toys are not built as well as they used to be. Back in the day, a good toy used to last you well into adulthood, and would never go wrong. You used to be able to run over your old toy car with a real one, and the real car usually came off worse. Do the same with a toy made these days and it almost turns into dust. You spend weeks looking for all the bits and pieces that have cracked, smashed and fallen off.
There is an argument to say that toys these days are more technical, they do more stuff and therefore there are more parts to go wrong. I’m not sure this holds much water though as even very basic toys made these days suffer from the lack of quality materials and build. Also, think back to when got old train sets as toys, and the intricacies involved with the small parts and mechanics. These trains seemed to be built from rock. You used to be able to run the track off the edge of your kitchen table and the train would keep on going once it hit the floor.
So how come toys are not being made the standard that they once were? Well, as you might expect it comes down to money. There are still some toy makers and distributors that provide good quality products, but they are sadly in the minority these days and most companies are more concerned with getting high volume of products, for low cost and built from rubbish materials.
What to do? If you’re buying for a girl, hunt around for the best gifts for her on trusted websites, where you know you’ll get quality. When buying gifts for men you’re more advised to actually go to a shop to take a look at the build quality. Boys tend to be a little rougher on their toys and so you’ll need to find something that really will stand the test of time
