The Great Escape

 This Xmas, we have our 2+ year old grandaughter at home to keep us busy and entertained.

Naturally, Santa and her family spoiled her rotten, bringing lots of lovely toys and models from her favourite TV shows such as Bluey, Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol. Whereas back in my childhood day, it was a question of pop the box open and get playing - with maybe a little bit of putting stuff together, or shoving in a battery - these days, getting toys out of the packaging requires intervention similar to International Rescue!

She got some nice playsets, such as a plane and a campervan, in open window boxes, so you can see what your buying - but releasing the toys to allow them to be played with was an absolute nightmare.

Peppa Pig was securely fastened to the back of the card by a styrene bubble, nylon cords and tight wire restraints. The vehicle itself had to be removed from the package via two screws which released large plastic lugs and then more nylon cords and wires.

A child would have no chance at all of getting a toy out of the pack, never mind assembling all the little bits which were further packed inside smaller boxes, taped inside the vehicle and individually wrapped in paper.

Add to this the teams of multilingual instructions, cardboard parts and stickers to be applied - all in the midst of a midden of wrapping paper and an almost constant flow of new gifts arriving. The force required to liberate some of the bigger toys from the corrugated card means that parts sometimes go flying around the room as the pack bursts open, leading to bits getting lost.

I got so stressed yesterday morning, trying to wrest a plastic train from its packaging, while stopping the dog from stealing anything remotely edible and keeping the grandaughter on track with who's bought what - only to get inside and realise I needed tools just to get the toy out!

Even later in the evening, when xmas dinner was out the way and child was asleep, we got the board games out - to find more assembly was needed, even before tackling the instructions on a full stomach and a glass or two if port. When did toys become so hellishly complex?