365 Project - Day 18 - Heart Attack in the Box

I think it must have been a very special sort of psychotic mind that first created a Jack in the Box, and deemed it a suitable toy for children. I mean, a "toy" that plays a catchy little tune and then scares the bejesus out of kids is something that you think might just be banned here in the United States. We've seen fit to ban all sorts of great toys for one reason or another, and yet somehow the Jack in the Box keeps getting granted a pardon.

Slap bracelets that were so popular in the late 1980's and early 1990's were banned in a number of schools and then seemed to disappear altogether because apparently a few kids ended up with lesions and other injuries after what was either blatant misuse or an unfortunate malfunction.

And what about those awesome Kinder Eggs made and sold all over Europe? They have been banned from store shelves here in the U.S. because apparently they are a choking hazard (though the package specifically indicates they are not suitable for children under 3) and because the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938 prohibits the embedding of non-food items completely enclosed inside food items.

And let's not forget the legendary hover boards that caused kids to drool after seeing them in Back to the Future Part II. Rumor has it that Mattell was nice enough to make them, but they never managed to make it to store shelves. Would I be shocked if they existed and were banned by some overzealous parent group in this country? Why no, no I wouldn't.

And yet, here is Mr. Jack in the Box, still sitting smugly on store shelves, waiting for his next victim. While I wasn't scared of him, I just never cared for him much. Apparently Cadence doesn't either, for each time he popped out of his lair to surprise her, she looked at me with a mixture of fear and awe, forcing out a high-pitched fake laugh and trying desperately to shove him back into cage.

Today's 365 Project entry is dedicated our old pal Jack, and the generations of children he has frightened.