Our small effort

Ulg. Another recall. And I think, from what I've read, Mattel is actually one of the better companies for quality control. Yet here we are again, in the thick of Recall Summer.

The blame for the current state of affairs lies with international manufacturing standards, American companies who have jumped madly onto the globalization train, blind to the quality control risks that can pose, the current approach to government (to undermine good governing and underfund agencies like the Consumer Products Safety Commission) and finally, the American approach to consumption: a disinclination to ask ourselves, "Should anything be that cheap?"

A few years ago our own participation in this system became more clear to us. Just before a move to another city, we realized we had too much stuff, and much of the stuff we had was crap, bought without much reflection because it was so darn cheap. So we began a slow and steady purge that is going on to this day. When our daughter was born, we wanted to maintain this approach while not forcing her to have a spartan childhood (a two year old can do a lot with pots, pans and a cardboard box, but actual toys are nice, too). We purposely moved to a smaller home, and try to buy a limited number of very good toys, toys that “keep giving” -- ones that can be rotated out for a while and, when they are returned to her toy basket or table, are played with in a whole different way. Still, we got caught in one of these mass recalls just like so many other families. And when we looked around we realized that only one toy, one toy in our entire apartment, hadn't crossed oceans to get to our living room.

So now I want to do something, some little thing, because this feels so enormous. Of course it goes way beyond toys, and it seems almost silly to focus on them. But in the last few days I've heard rumblings, parents who say they wish there was a place where they could find toys that haven't seen the belly of a container ship. Many want a place where they can find handmade toys, toys that will last, toys that are worth saving up for. I hope this helps some.