On Christmas morning the kids lose interest in a toy before you can ever hope to have it freed from its plastic prison.  A friend complained to her local radio station.  The result:

I’m famous!

Well, not really famous but I have a “good question”! I recently sent in a “good question” to the local CBC radio morning show. This is a daily feature where listeners send in a question and they interview an expert in the appropriate field to answer the question. My question had to do with the absurd packaging of children’s toys. Why do we need 6 twist ties and 4 screws to affix a $10 toy to a box. Well, my question made it and it was aired Friday and again this morning. They called the head of packaging at Fisher Price to answer my question! His story was as follows: in the 80’s, toys were placed in a box and small pieces were simply stored in a small bag and thrown in the box. By the 90’s, the “try me” buttons were popular which made it necessary to change the packaging. They also have very strict transportation tests to allow the toy to travel safely from Asia to North America. However, the company realizes that it has gone a little overboard and have been getting complaints from parents (and me!) on wanting to be able to access the toy in less than 15 minutes. They are trying out a new “disc” where the adult simply has to turn the toy once to the right and that will free it.

See, my questions really are good! And someone from Fisher Price answered it for me! It made for a fun Monday morning wake-up call!

So there you have it - a piece of trivia for your Monday morning.