Some call it “wrap rage,” others call it a nuisance; I like to refer to it as a parent’s worst nightmare.
Moms and dads with young children, you know the pain I am describing: The agony of liberating new toys from their plastic packaging.
It used to be that on Christmas morning all a parent needed nearby was a camera, a pad and pen to jot down who gave what to whom, and maybe, maybe, a single pair of scissors to release a few stubborn pieces of tape. (Though, if someone in the family had sharp teeth you could skip the scissors all together.)
These days freeing a toy from its plastic packaging requires a hardware store’s worth of tools that are better suited for an electrician than a groggy parent on Christmas morning. You know you are in trouble when your pliers, screwdriver, saw, blowtorch and collection of genuine Ginsu knives can’t free Barbie from her heat-sealed clamshells and various other impenetrable wire restraints.
While I appreciate the care toy manufacturers take to protect their products from damage in the shipping process, I still don’t see why Barbie’s hair has to be sewn into her package’s cardboard backing and her wrists and ankles need to be individually wrapped 20 times each with indestructible wire.
Actually, I recently discovered that prevention of shipping damage is not the main reason toy companies employ nightmarish packaging. Those nasty plastic clamshells are there to stop thieves from opening a box and taking off with its contents. So, where does that leave us poor saps who actually shelled out hundreds of dollars for the clamshell secured toys?
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, many of us end up in the hospital.
No kidding. Studies show that frustrated parents whose children are screaming for the release of their cherished Christmas presents often end up injuring themselves on plastic packaging. Injuries from plastic packaging and containers resulted in about 6,000 visits to the emergency room in 2006, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Emergency room doctors say parents are treated for ripped flesh, broken teeth, and severed fingers (namely from trying to pry open plastic-sealed packages with knives or other sharp items).
Personally, I’ve never injured myself; however, I willingly admit that after 30 minutes fighting with plastic clamshells, wicked wires and tough-as-nails threads (Diego Dinosaur Rescue Mountain, I’m referring to you), I do have thoughts of hurting the package’s designer.
Do you have a “wrap rage” nightmare to share?
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