Mo Rocca: Toys Are Overrated

In the wake of all the recalls and concerns about lead paint leaching into children, Sunday Morning contributor Mo Rocca talks about how toys are overrated, and offers some practical alternatives.

Last week another 600,000 toys were recalled because of high lead content in their paint.

At this point it would be easier to just list the toys that our kids can play with.

Chinese officials are crying that they've been scapegoated by Mattel. Mattel executives are crying that they're doing everything they can to reassure parents.

But I don't hear many kids crying.

That's because toys are overrated. At least store-bought toys are.

All of my friends with small children tell me similar things:

"Sam's new best friend is the dustbuster."

"Charlotte just loves playing with the box the vacuum cleaner came in."

"Macy can't get enough of Paco's rawhide."

Granted, these are very little kids. But I can remember at 7 or 8 opening up lots of slick toys at Christmas, playing with them a few times, then getting bored and dumping them in the toy graveyard within days. They just didn't hold my interest. Most were designed to be used one way, as one thing.

A young imagination is bold, likes to make bigger leaps. It likes to, well, imagine that the dustbuster is a dinosaur; that the computer mouse is a hotrod; that the box is a cave; that the rawhide is a torch … or a baton … or something.

For me, the recliner in our family room was a spacecraft. The silverware was a love triangle: knife and spoon a happy couple, the vixenish fork hoping to come in-between. And Sam, my bear, was a friend and champion gymnast.

Are these any safer than the 7.3 million Polly Pockets recalled for their defective magnets? In some cases, no; children probably shouldn't play with silverware. But the stories that get told are probably a lot better.

So while you're waiting out the toy recall, marvel at how your kids make do with the junk in your house. And take notes: Your kid might just come up with the newest hot toy. Introducing the Tupperware container. It's a hardhat! It's a boat! It's a crab!

It doesn't contain lead, does it?