You go through life and there are these things that you find out about that apparently you were supposed to know. Somehow, I didn’t get the memo. It has happened to me on many occasions. Then you find out and everyone looks at you like…, “you didn’t know that, or you weren’t aware of that”. It is like everyone else was aware that this thing existed except you. The subject of this article has to do with one of those things. There were always issues with putting toys together for the kids. When you raise 4 children there are going to be many things that, as dad, you will be expected to unbox, find the parts, find the instructions and successfully assemble whatever it is. I am not a handy guy to start with, so when this challenge was presented to me, I did the best I could. The instructions were written by people whose second language was English. The grammar was wrong, the choice of words was wrong, even identifying the parts was difficult. Having said this… all of my kids friends had these same toys and their father successfully completed the job. Bottom line, once you go down this path, you must get the job done. I owned your basic flat head screw driver and Phillips screw driver… standard size. I kept running into these jobs where those tools simply didn’t work. I was in the hardware store one day and saw this set of “jewelers screwdrivers”. They were in a little plastic case and there were a mix of flat head and Phillips screwdrivers in really small sizes. I had been waiting for these my whole life as a dad. Suddenly no challenge was too great. No screw too small. No task beyond the reach of these amazing screwdrivers. I suddenly could assemble almost anything with ease. I even surprised myself. I shared this “find” with my friends and quickly found out that they all already owned such a set. OMG!! No one bothered to share this with me. I was actually pissed off when I found out that somehow, I was left out in the cold to fend for myself. I thought, I wouldn’t hold back this information from other unknowing, unsuspecting, unfortunate person who was experiencing the same challenges that I had, but, you know, I wasn’t that quick to share. I thought, let them suffer like I did and maybe one day I will let them know about these amazing screwdrivers and how they can be so liberating in the assembly of kids toys.
Today toy manufacturers have changed. Now many of the toys can be assembled even without any tools. The battery compartments can be opened by sliding the cover and letting it snap. Very rarely does dad experience the kind of issues that I used to have. The only thing that is still consistent is deciphering the instructions…once that is done, and the parts are identified…you don’t need to search for the greatest tools ever, that are made for small screws and small places on kids toys. Knowing what I now know is no longer life changing for the uninitiated dad. Best of luck with putting together your next kid’s toy.
