Where To Buy Melissa And Doug Toys
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Where To Buy Melissa And Doug Toys
When talking with other parents of preschoolers, toys and screen time are always popular topics. How do we help our kids resist the allure of YouTube and other streaming media This is where the brand Melissa & Doug comes up.
People expect me to like Melissa and Doug. They feel more environmentally-friendly, because they are made of wood and just have a homey feel. They seem like a way greener option than anything else you can find in a mainstream toy section.Not so much.Maybe they used to have some redeeming qualities, but when you look closely now, things are pretty sketchy. This company "based out of Conneticut" peddles off Made in Poverty, not always well-made junk as just the opposite- healthy, earthy, even good. They want you to think their toys are better than the run of the mill junky toys, therefore worth more money. They market themselves off as Made in America (even somehow being littered through the Made in America toy section on Amazon) and that perception is pervasive enough that people often think I would like them.But I just so don't. In some ways, I prefer Fisher Price over this company, because at least they are being honest about who they are (check out their attempt at "wood toys"- they are so bad at not using plastic, it is almost cute). It just makes me mad when you feel like you are finally doing something good, and really you have just been deceived. Melissa and Doug are a perfect example of this. I can totally see why people would love the brand and have plenty of Melissa and Doug toys at their house (I think we have one ourselves), but it makes me angry that the image of this brand is essentially a deception. We are all trying our best, and it is hard enough to do right by our kids and the environment as it is. Melissa and Doug used to have a good reputation (in the late 80's and early 90's) and coast on that positive association.This toy company has already run into a bit of trouble for their lack of standards, and I am willing to bet they have more lawsuits in their future, because deceptive and cheap doesn't make for a great long game. In 2012, they got in trouble with immigration for not documenting their employees (so taking advantage of people). There are documented problems with the paint on them, and I bet the news will get worse on that with time. Every Melissa and Doug toy I have seen or researched is Made in China, so I am not sure what happened to the American employees they suggest comprise the majority of the company.What makes me even madder I feel like they love to live right on the line of plagarizing other more ethical, less mainstream toy designs. It's interesting just how often their design ideas seem to creep on other wood toy makers, almost all of whom have better labor and ethical standards.This is the kind of ugly nonsense that drives good companies off the market, because they take their idea and lower the price.You know how you take a good idea and make it cheaperYou steal an idea someone else worked hard on.You ship your labor to China or somewhere where you can treat people badly.You use cheap and unethical materials.You waste fossil fuels schlepping it back here.You jack up the price as if it isn't cheap junk.I am not kidding about Melissa and Doug's strange talent for lifting other company's designs. Check out these two eerily similar clock toys:Holgate Toys (check them out- great Made in the USA company) Melissa and Doug (like that toy, but with more branding!)You see this kind of thing again and again.The good news attached to this is that you can find pretty direct switches away from many of the Melissa and Doug products. They make about a million products (never a good sign- if you want to do something well, you usually aren't doing that many different things), so I can't point to a replacement for every thing, but here is a place to start. If you want to buy a child in your life something special, you still can! Just not f