Really Bad Christmas Presents

Ok, as regular readers know, I have three little monsters. And, one of the things that comes with having little monsters is a deluge of catalogs. Seriously, you have no concept of how much junk mail you get when you have kids. We used to get two, maybe three, catalogs a week pre kids. Now, we get two or three a day and they are predominantly focused at the kids. They are either toys, or clothes, or even home furnishing. According to the cover, I am a bad parent if my daughters don't have the $100 matching horse and pony sheet set. And that $100 doesn't even touch the cost of the comforter.

And, within all this garbage is yet another sign of why America occasionally fails. I received a catalog from a company call Learning Resources. Now Learning Resources bills themselves as an educational toy company. You know the "buy our stuff and your kids will get smarter and be admitted to Harvard" thing.

In between all the educational toys is a product line call "Smart Snacks". With such a line you would think, there would be an emphasis on healthy eating and learning.

WOW!!! WAS I WRONG!!! And not just a little wrong but way over the top wrong.

Let's look at some of the "Smart Snacks" toys that are available. First up is the Mix'n'Match doughnuts set. HELLO? Doughnuts? While they taste good, doughnuts aren't even healthy for raccoons and those rodents will eat anything. So, the first smart snack is a doughnut.

The second item in the "Smart Snack" toy line is the Counting Cookies set. It's a cookie jar and 10 chocolate chip cookies the kids can learn to count. Wha??? Let's not even ask why they can't count carrots or something healthy. So far, my kids have learned smart eating includes doughnuts and cookies.

But the whopper has got to be the "Hide and Peek Chocolates". And who is this good for???? It's a box of friggin' chocolates? Oddly enough, Girl has requested this for Christmas. Gee, there's a shocker.

I know America is a great country and 90% of Americans are good people but who thought this was a good idea? Occasionally, marketing people earn their reputations as glorified used car salesmen.

Anyway, in case you don't believe me…

www.learningresources.com

What's really odd about the whole situation, it's hard to find this on the website. It's like the company had an attack of conscience or something. If you go to the web site and pick "Theme" and then "Nutrition" you actually get good counting with carrots.

So, the direct link to counting with junk food…

http://www.learningresources.com/category/parents/shop+by+brand/smart+snacks--174--splash--174--safari--153-/smart+snacks--174-.do