When I was in the second grade my favorite toy was the Clackers. Do you remember those? You held the ring in your hand and moved your hand up and down to make the clackers go in & out and hit each other. They looked like this. Only mine were red. A pretty see through red.
I absolutely loved my clackers. I played with them all the time. I even took them to school. I only played with them at recess, of course.
Until that one fateful day in the late 1960’s. Or maybe 1970. I was in 2nd grade, and had taken my clackers to school that day. I was standing in line with my class to go back inside after recess. I had my clackers in hand. Probably had them in action. The principal walked by, saw my clackers, and took them! Yes, the principal stole my beloved childhood toy. I remember he told me that they were dangerous and we couldn’t have them at school. Clearly, that was the first time I had heard that, or I wouldn’t have brought my beloved clackers to school. While stole may be a strong word to describe what happened, I still feel like he stole them!
I remember going home after school that day and telling my mother what happened. I guess I expected her to run to the school and make the principal give me back my toy. That’s not what happened, though. She said that if he took them, they must be dangerous, so I couldn’t have them back. I don’t remember if I cried, but I still remember how sad I was to have my favorite toy taken from me.
Turns out, the Clackers were banned in 1985 for being dangerous. They were made of glass and after use, glass chips would break off and go flying. I guess that made the principal right, albeit almost twenty years later.
I don’t remember what started the conversation, but I was telling some of my kids about this the other day. They were amused by the fact that I was unhappy about having my beloved favorite toy taken away from me.
Apparently, I’m still not over it.
