Horsin' around.

Was busy at the church last week, in the room where they keep a lot of rummage for rummage sales. Rummagepalooza. Anyone want some good rummage? I can hook you up. 

Sometimes I see pretty good toys, things that seem like winners and yet somehow did not get the ever-lovin' snot smushed out of them as a well-loved toy ought to. You never know with kids. You spend a hundred bucks on the toy and they want to play with the box. It's been that way since toys came in boxes.

Here's one I thought was pretty darn good:

I guess this toy proves that unicorns are no more than horses with horns on their heads, however much pink may occur on them naturally. That sound effect could have been around since the days when boys still played games with Western motifs. Now that's straight out, unless it's White Oppressors and Native Resistance. Which could be fun. However, I can imagine the neighing and galloping getting so annoying that a parent throws the thing out the back door, turning it momentarily into a Pegasus.

The point is, I never had a rocking horse to my knowledge, but if I had one like this when I was a toddler, I think I would have spent the day on it. Hi-ho, Pinkie Unicorn! 

Jerry Seinfeld talks about being bored to death as a child doing errands with his mother: "When you’re five and you get bored, you cannot support your body weight. I remember going to the bank with my parents... and I would lie down flat, like, 'Sorry, Mom, there’s nothing I can do. This place is so dull, I cannot get up.' This is what I think adulthood is: Adulthood is the ability to be totally bored and remain standing." But if he got a ride on one of those coin-operated horsies outside the store, he would be totally refreshed, ready to go look at carpet swatches.

If horsie's a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'!

Refreshment aside, the other problem with this toy for Baby Fred is that, of course, it's a girl toy. In my childhood in Bedrock, people still expected boys to play with boy toys and girls with girl toys -- guns and knives vs. baby dolls. As a toddler I think I would have just seen a horsie and gone for it. I could have gotten some opprobrium from the males in the family, yes. 

It's no better now, though -- it may even be worse. A modern male toddler riding on a pink unicorn rocker might make his progressive parents very proud, so proud they would start him on female hormones immediately and schedule his gender reassignment surgery. 

It's dangerous out there.

Anyway, it's not an issue for me at the moment. I'm way too big for this toy. I'm sure it will go to a good home, and I hope the little girl who gets it loves it. And if it's a little boy -- well, look out, kid.