Transcripts

Marianne Szymanski:
The situation is that there are eight billion toys on our store shelves in America of toys that are made in China - that's eighty eight to ninety percent of toys. So most toys are made in China and of the recalls it's really only two to three percent. So it's a very small percentage.

Marianne Szymanski of Toytips.com and publisher of Toy Tips Magazine says a common complaint that you often hear is that a child is less interested in the toy and more interested in the box it came in.

Well that is because the toy that was bought is the wrong decision. That's a perfect example of," Is the toy age appropriate? - Ehh maybe, maybe not. Does the toy enhance the skills my child has today? - Maybe, maybe not." And here's the big question, "Does my child have interest? A lot of times parents will buy toys because they think they're really cool. And of course you don't want to be the aunt or uncle that buys un-cool toys. But you have to make sure your child really wants it or really wants to play with it. Otherwise they just see it as just another box and the box is fun.

Age ranges on toy boxes are very important to follow, says Marianne, and when you have no clue what toy to buy a child go for the classics.

Candyland one of the best just year after year -all the classics that we all played with are around year after year for a reason, that's because they're so much fun.

Tomorrow, some specific toy suggestions from Marianne - I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.