What in the world?

When I was a little munchkin, I loved to play with little toy kitchen sets. There was one in the nursery at church, and we had a little plastic one in my basement. I remember the day when we brought our plastic kitchenette home from DI (Deseret Industries). It was covered in crayon marks from the playtime of a previous owner, but we scrubbed the marks off and it looked brand new. Here is a classic picture of my lil' bro, my lil' sis, and me playing on it.

Ahhh, lovely. Look at us all being so happy and nice to each other. (Ahem, Rachel...)

Anyway, point is, yesterday I was at Target doing some Christmas shopping, and I saw a very different kind of plastic play set. I almost couldn't believe it.

They have stainless steel appliances! And wooden cabinets! And, unless my eyes deceive me, a MINI-FRIDGE! What in the world? And I love how it is called the "New Traditions Kitchen." Yes, new traditions of over-consumption, lavish homes, and unrealistic expectations for small children. It's no wonder that new married couples go into huge debt so often because they want to buy homes like the ones their parents live in (the parents having worked for decades to obtain such homes).

Here are a few more ridiculous kitchen play sets:
Very nice, little boy. Just keep talking on your toy cell phone. It'll get you far in life.

The product description on this one says it has six electronic features: microwave, oven, dishwasher, phone, hob and light. It makes sounds and has a cutlery drawer. Yes, because all little kids need somewhere to neatly store their CUTLERY. Sheesh.

Le sigh. To be honest, I loved my childhood, even if we did have a second-hand plastic kitchen/house. I had hours of fun playing with that thing, and it probably cost my parents $10. Plus, I had to use my imagination to create stainless-steel appliances and a tile backsplash in my kitchen. Actually, I probably didn't know about those things, never mind wish I had them.

Thank you, parents, for giving us a good childhood and understanding that we didn't need to have ridiculous toys in order to be happy.

Here's us having a grand old time in 1996-ish...
... and here is the littlest brother havin a grand old time in 2009.

Some things, thankfully, never change.