age appropriate gifts for xmas

One of the things that absolutely drove me out of my mind this Xmas was the fact that my parents felt the need to buy my son toys that included small parts - parts too small for a three-year-old. Hello! It says right there on the box that it is for "AGES 6 AND UP", so why are you buying it for my son? Am I supposed to put it away for three years and then give it to him?

The worst part about it is that I have no idea what they are giving him until he has already unwrapped the present, and then I see the age disclaimer, and by that time it is too late and my son is ecstatic about opening the gift and getting it out. So I get to be the "bad guy" and take it away, explaining to my son that he's not old enough to play with it.

The truth is that most of the toys out there still have small parts, even if they say that they are okay for children who are my son's age. And to be honest he is finally getting past that "stick everything in my mouth" toddler phase. But the last thing I need is for him to choke to death on plastic GiJoe missiles, or miniature car spoilers from some Hot Wheels collectible. Heck, even the wheels could fall off and end up in his mouth.

One of the gifts that he received was this GiJoe transport vehicle. I remember GiJoe vehicles - I had many as a kid. And every one of them had to be assembled and came apart easily. In fact, my father used to scream at me all the time for leaving chunks of GiJoe parts in the filter of our swimming pool. You would think that he'd remember all of that hollering at me, and how the GiJoe vehicles would break apart into a zillion pieces, specifically in the course of a "battle" with the evil Cobra.

Then again, maybe this is my father getting back at me. He wants me to have to sit there for two hours trying to assemble these things for my son, and then follow him around the house all day long picking up the pieces. Hmmm....