When I was younger, all I wanted was something that made a lot of noise; a keyboard, a puppy, a laser shooter gun that went “pew, pew, pew”, Girl Talk games, loud board games, a radio…..

The list goes on and on. Not much has changed. Now I would love to have a nice stereo in the house with built in speakers, satellite radio, mp3 players, a plasma television…. Again, the list goes on and on.

To my dad and mom, the worst toy was anything that made noise. It kind of became a game between the families; who could out noise the other person’s kids. Either way, it appeared that dad always lost. An hour into Christmas, he would leave the room and return with a bottle of Aspirin and a bathrobe sash tied around his head to help cure his headache. Sometimes we would receive a toy and the batteries mysteriously disappeared from the backs of the toy within a day. Around our house, the only things harder to find than candy were batteries.

The year that we all received our own stereos with a recording option, I am sure that my dad took an entire bottle of aspirin before we were done opening gifts. Or the year of the musical teddy bears from Uncle: mom took them away before New Years and stashed them in the pantry. I didn’t see the little white bear with a red stocking cap until I moved out 11 years later.

After spending many days with the windows open at my own home, I have come to agree with my father. The small ride in cars with the car sounds, the remote control vehicles, the singing anything and the children’s karaoke sets; the worst toys to give to children are ones that make noise. However, the best racket made during the whole experience of gift giving is the gleeful sound that the kids make while using the gift. Luckily, even the loudest toys can’t drown that out.