Feeling a bit old-school

I'm not that old, really I'm not. But sometimes I feel like I'm older than the crusty old man that has possession of my husband's body (I swear, L is 75 at heart -- most people are young at heart; he's old at heart).

I was perusing a toy catalog the other day because it was there, and I was really annoyed about the toys in it. Matchbox cars and race track have always held great appeal for me; I had tons of the cars when I was little, but my parents always denied me the race track. I was checking out the latest in car tracks for kids, and I noticed a trend apparent in seemingly all toys: sound effects. The new tracks come with 20 sound effects. Huh? Most of the fun is creating your own car revving noises and crashing explosion sounds. But 20 of them?! Built in? I can no more come up with 20 appropriate built-in sounds for a race track than I can do a Sarah Palin imitation. Where is the imagination?

I mentioned this to a friend of mine, and he told me that his kids have a Sit'n'Spin. (Oh, how I coveted that back in the day too) And the Sit'n'Spin has sound effects! He said he was floored by that when he realized it. What is a Sit'n'Spin doing with sound effects?

My skepticism of the need for sound effects was brought to light yesterday when we went to a local open gym. There were four or five different toddler bikes to ride, and Peanut jumped on them right away. One had Sesame Street characters pictured on it, so she went straight to it. Unfortunately, Peanut didn't put any miles on the bike. Instead, she sat there transfixed by the -- you guessed it -- sound effects that happen when you push buttons. No wonder our kids are obese! They never even get the bikes out of the garage. Why should they, when all their entertainment is supplied by just sitting on the thing?