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Letter of the day.

From one of this morning's dailies:

To parents whining about fast food outlets offering toys with food, the word you are looking for is "no". These tactics are not new. In the '40s and '50s football cards were were offered with chewing gum, and toys were put into cereal packets. Our parents knew the word "no", and we respected that word. Fast food once in a while will never hurt anyone. It's about moderation - another word modern parents may like to look up in a dictionary (if they have one).
- Glenyse Sims-Ellis, Invermay

Well said, M/s. Sims-Ellis. I like the parenthesised crack about the dictionary in the last sentence. Talk about dripping with sarcasm. And perhaps a little unfair, but in keeping with the tone of the letter.

My favourites were the collectors' cards from Shell (transportation, flowers and trees, animals); stamp packs from AMPOL petroleum; 45 r.p.m. popular records from Golden Fleece service stations; moulded plastic train engines and carriages from Kellogg cereals and the Twisties football cards, which never quite lost the Twisties aroma, or the slightly orange hue.

Geographical note: Invermay is a suburb of Launceston, surely one of Australia's prettiest cities. (That is apropos of nothing. Just thinking out loud.)

Comments

  1. yeah nice. i loved those little walking creatures that you tied a piece of cotton on and hung with a small weight over the edge of the table.
    gran and pappy always had them, i think in special k? never at home though. guess mum just said no!

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  2. We do moderation, both with the fast food and the toys. My daughter, age three, calls things that come in fast food meals "snack toys" (we were laughing about this just last night). We do fast food about once a month... and she doesn't realize EVERY meal comes with a toy, because if we think the toy's annoying, we throw it out when she's not looking.

    Moderation is my friend. And where is it written that I have to give my kid every toy on earth? Particularly when she likes playing with old boxes and bubble wrap?

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  3. "No" is such a powerful word and one some parents need to familiarize themselves with.

    ...and as for dictionaries, well, my dictionary and thesaurus are the two of the most used books in the house. Spellcheck? Phooey

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  4. Paula, we had those little press-together walkalong horses as well. The thing I remember is that they always stopped right at the edge of the table and never fell off.

    Julie, throwing them out when they're not looking is parenting rule #1! Happens all the time around here.

    Melbourne Lass, my dictionary is my most used book as well. In fact, it will be the subject of a post coming up soon.

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