Last Saturday Milo was in tears, screaming, "Can you tape it? Can you tape it?" His world was literally coming apart. And by that I mean that this little plastic globe keychain that he'd gotten as a favor at a birthday party had broken and I was not doing a good job of fixing it.
That's when I started to calculate the sadness that this little plastic toy had wrought upon the world. First, I doubt the working conditions for the people in China who created this toy are ideal. Next, I know the mom who bought the toy for the birthday party favors was not happy. Because even if it's only a dollar, when you're buying enough of these little toys to fill a pinata, that adds up. And since there was only one globe, my children fought bitterly over it. More sadness. And then as soon as we returned home, the globe broke, which brought Milo to tears. I'd like to think those tears were for the working conditions in China, but who am I kidding?
I know this seems all doom and gloom. It's just one little plastic toy, right? But, it's not one. We go to birthday parties at least once a month and my boys aren't even in school yet. Our house is littered with those little plastic toys. Do I just have to live with this until my kids are of the age when their party goody bags are filled with illegal drugs and booze? What's a mom to do?



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