International News and Comment on Chinese-made Goods
What a lot of my friends don't know is my experience with toymaking. My father, in his retirement, became a toymaker, selling his goods at craft shows and such. His mantra was, "A toy without a child is a sad thing."
I recall manning his booth one Saturday, and a young couple came up and began admiring the toys. They were very nice, handmade and wooden. They had a nice finish. The toys I mean, not the couple. Their question: "What do you use to finish these? Is it safe for a baby" I honestly couldn't answer them. I knew the stain used was the finest kind, but didn't know if it was safe if ingested. Both my father and I had never considered it. But after that one question, all his toys were made with an edible finish. With fava beans and a nice chianti, it was very good.
These days, I feel sorry for parents. They love their children and want them to have a happy Christmas. However, they're in a bad position: the greed of companies that manufacture and sell here in the US has led them to make toys in the cheapest of places around the world. Sometimes, these toys were made by children who themselves couldn't afford them. How sad is that?
So for Christmas, what's a parent to do? Buy made-in-China goods and risk lead poisoning for your child, or don't buy Chinese-made and risk have a very sparse Christmas.
For this, I will try to help. I'll be looking around for non-made-in-China toys and posting links here, so stay tuned.
I hope I can help make things good for the little monsters. So they can grow up to be just like you.
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