In the firing line

For a long time I thought that the most irritating people on this planet are those who design the packaging for children's toys. I want to know at what point did they think it was going to be a good idea to cover toys with shrink wrapped plastic which sticks to the toys you are trying to free. AND why is it that all toys have to be wired down with a gazillion little wire tag things which don't want to untwirl? Have these toy packaging designers ever tried to get their packaging off the toy when there is also a very excited 3 year old desperate to get his hands on the new toy that has appeared in his life? The longer the unwrapping phase goes on, the more excited the three year old gets, the more difficult it is to concentrate on the unwrapping and the longer the unwrapping goes on for. I'm not even talking Christmas here, when every single present has to be undone, with 2 small boys getting more and more excited and overwraught.

I wouldn't mind quite so much, but why do these toys have to be so well packaged up? The toys should be pretty robust, they are intended for vigorous play by small children after all.

So when Emily over at BabyRambles tagged me to nominate people to be put onto the naughty step, these toy packagers were my first thought.

But I've discovered a whole new set of people to direct my ire towards. So much ire in fact that they might manage to knock toy packaging designers off the top spot in my hit list, which as you can see, is saying something. Step forward the designers and manufacturers of the Star Wars Lego Spaceships. One question for you, one question only: Have you actually tried to play with your lego space ship creations? Now, they are lego so I'm not expecting them to stay stuck together during time warping light speed travels across the bedroom. But I tried to pick one up the other day. I picked it up very carefully. It fell apart instantly. I put it back together (all properly and according to the instructions). I picked it up again, gingerly and with great care. Again, collapsing space ship. Now, if I can't do it at 38 how on earth are the children expected to do it? Do you have any idea how upset a 5 year old who has spent the last 2 days constructing said space ship gets when he can't even pick it up without it falling apart? In your toy factory, do you include children when you test the designs?

Star Wars Lego people, you are not the only people guilty of this. I would love to know how many toys get properly tested by children before they are sold? I mean children play with toys very differently to adults. The last thing that I want to do is to stop the kids playing creatively with toys because the toys just aren't designed to be played with like that.

So placed on my naughty step to think about their behaviour and consider how they would like to behave going forward go toy packing designers and Star Wars Lego people. They won't be alone there, I mean I can also include my other hit list favourites - Jonathon Ross, Jeremy Clarkson, Giles Clark (he who gave cricket to Sky TV), the CNN weather presenter, any Bosnian bureaucrat, the driver of the X13 bus that didn't stop for me the other day, ANYBODY parking on our road before going into town because they want to save the £2 parking charge, people who don't pick up dog poo, vandals who break the splash park: the list is endless, there are a lot of people on my hit list (what can I say? I'm pregnant and hot, most people annoy me).

Anyway, this is a meme so I am going to nominate a few lovely blogs that I've recently found and am enjoying very much. Which adults would you put on your naughty step?

Sardine Tin
A Muse Inner Me
Marketing to Milk
The King & Eye
A Celebrity Mother

I'm also aware that I've been tagged for loads of memes and have been generally rubbish at doing them, mainly because I can't remember who's tagged me for what. So Nappy Valley Girl, Pippa D, Gooner Jamie, and everyone else apologies. I will try. Well, I might try if I can find time, energy and someone to look after the boys for an hour - and once I've picked up all the small pieces of lego littered around my house.