The kid's meal at Chick-fil-A usually has educational books or toys. Most likely it is something the boys play with for a few moments and then discard. The books go into our bookshelf to be read later. The toys usually find their way into the trash or donation bin.
This week Chick-fil-A's bonus in the child's meal is this insect model:
Reid was thrilled. He wanted to put it together at the restaurant, but because I am such a wise mommy I encouraged waiting until we got home so I could help with less distraction.
I started on the instructions. Following each fairly vague direction to the best of my ability.
My mommy assembly resume is impressive:
1. Ikea furniture.
2. Transformers (into and out of the action figure/motor vehicle).
3. Legos.
4. Magnet sets.
5. Tinker Toys.
I could go on. Let's just say, I can put things together.
Approximately an HOUR later I had produced this:
Not bad! It resembles a dragonfly.
Reid took one look at it and started to complain...
"It is missing a wing."
"You didn't put it together right."
"This is upside down."
Details!
Details!
Details!
I thought I had adequately hidden this:
Oops. Extra wing. Really, who needs more than one?
Let's review what I accomplished in the last hour.
I took this...
...and turned it into this:
About that time blog-Stedman came in from work. He took one look at my dragonfly and stated:
"It is missing a wing."
"You didn't put it together right."
"This is upside down."
Details!
Details!
Details!
I handed him the disfigured dragonfly and the instructions and told him to go fix it.
About 30 minutes later he returned with this:
Overachiever.
Note to Chick-fil-A: Your child's toy took two people with a combined 13 years of higher education 1 1/2 hours to assemble.
Right before bed tonight, Reid was holding his dragonfly close to his heart and said, "I can't wait until we go back to Chick-fil-A and get the bumble bee..."
5:38 AM
Hey MENSA!
Posted by
Texasholly
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Out of the mouth of babes,
Pet Peeves,
plain old mom stuff
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58 comments:
This story was SO hilarious! OH MY GOSH! I think you should try to avoid Chick-fil-A's at all costs for the rest of the week until they get normal toys again! I know we will not be going this week!
I am totally cracking up!
Thanks for the warning, i will never go there and get a kids meal, I don't have the motor skills:)
I think Christian-based Chick-fil-A needs to rethink its toy difficulty level. I can only imagine the curse words spewing out of the mouths of good-intentioned parents across the globe.
Not that I'm saying you muttered any, but I'm thinking my kids would pick up a new phrase or two...
Congrats on your origami skills!
Em
That's too funny! I think I would have been in the same boat with Brennan requesting to put that thing together. Did ya know - you can exchange the over-complicate, non-fun kid "toys" for an ice cream cone at any Chick-fil-a? Yeah, just walk up to the counter and hand them that "educational crap" and get dreamy treat!
Thanks for the warning to stay the heck away from Chick-Fil-A for the duration of this toy cycle!
lol - I have high and lofty goals of throwing away every happy meal toy that comes in my house.
Then my daughter brings three home for Zesty. For when he is older. How can I get rid of them without hurting her feelings?
ok. so now i am eternally grateful that:
1) we don't have a chick-fil-a anywhere near me.
2) none of my children would lower themselves to have a kids meal anymore.
there are benefits to having them grow up a smidge.
Mom, how come you didn't inform young Reid and B.S. (Oh, I do love hubby's inititals!) that you put together the @%$@!#@$ dragonfly in a new and original way on purpose so it could fly upside down??????? Geez!
PS This misadventure is another reason to eat more beef. :)
I take it you will not return to Chik-fil-a until a new promotion has started. And, I think yours looks better anyway.
I guess with boys they want details? Why are kids toys so damn hard to put together anyway? Do they not realize the kids aren't putting the toys together the parents are? Dumb it down a little, please!!!
Being spatially challenged, I doubt I would have tried putting the thing together. When I do try such a feat, there is usually much muttering to myself and reading directions out loud. Somehow hearing it along with reading it helps. Unless you ask my kids and then it's just "embarrassing."
Are you saying Star Wars Action Figures aren't educational? Whut?
I think the people who put those "toys" in the meals sit back and laugh an evil laugh at the mischief they cause.
Whats chick fill a?
Now I want to go to Chik-Fil-A just to see how long it would take Honey and I to put those things together. We love a challenge!
You need to clarify...aren't one or more of these people a DOCTOR who reads X-rays!! I would have had a coronary trying to put that stupid thing together. WTF Chik Fil A?
Ha ha - I'll stick with the crap from Mickey Ds, thanks!
I am just so impressed that you even tried. Our went straight to the garbage before the kids even knew they existed- I suck!
My son went through an origami stage. Let's just say we quickly went back to Play-Doh.
So...I have to admit that I spent an entire post one time complaining about ChickFilA toys. But I get it - this bug is cool. For my girls ... not so much....but cool for Reid.
I have no comment worthy of a post this DANG funny. Funny because I have SO BEEN there.
Transformers? are you kidding me? Seriously...they are so bleepin hard. I actually CRIED trying to help my son one night. Okay I was PMS and drinking wine. BUT STILL.
Maybe it's not so bad that my city doesn't have a ChickFilA... the nearest one is 20 minutes or so away. Now I will be spared the torture of putting together a bug toy.
I tagged you for an award/meme thing:
http://amy-tinyblessings.blogspot.com/2008/10/kreativ-blogger-award.html
holy cow that looks hard! but cool. so cool. i love that dragonfly.
I leave any type of assembly for my husband. He's the one with the engineering degree so I figure he might as well put it to use.
If something needs business administrating, then I'm your girl!
I think you did a fabulous job!
Ok, but can we all agree that Wendy's toys end up going straight to the garbage. Seriously, always paper. Always little pieces. Die!
Thank goodness those days are over. You're giving me flashbacks to a certain Lego Native American village some years ago.
I'm pretty sure you should have given it to a 5 year old who would have put it together in 5 minutes...
Those toys are maddening to say the least. When they are that hard to put together they conveniently get lost. Can't wait to hear about the bumble bee.
I feel your pain! My husband and I did the dance of joy when our girls outgrew barbie. We were all tuckered out from assembling her houses and cars and chairs and pet shops and hair salons and dr's offices...
We too were at Chick Fil A last week and they inadvertently put two in the bag. Just like I inadvertently threw it away before HRH could see what he was missing out on. Now I'm even happier with my decision.
And Legos? Totally my turf. Apparently my Barbie Fashion Bazaar background trumps Andy's engineering undergrad. The hard part is finding a time to work on it without RC 'helping'.
I have no idea what Chic Fil a is but that toy's awesome... I admire your dedication to putting it together, too.
SAWEET! I'm going to Chic-Fil-A this Sunday to get one!
ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
God, Holly. I'm spitting on myself.
The folks at Chick-fil-A are brilliant. They know that you can only eat for about 20 or 30 minutes, max but you can assemble things for hours. Dining at their place is like dinner and a movie - but you end up with a souvenir.
And I am impressed even with your first attempt. I cannot even parallel park, much less assemble things in three dimensions.
Oy. I can't follow those directions...
That is too funny! Why is it that Daddy can always figure those things out?!?! Thanks for stopping by my blog! Have a great week!
that chick-fill-a. why can't they ust give cheap plastic toys like everyone else!
Wishing you better building luck with the bumble bee. Snicker, snicker.
And this is another example of how you are far nicer than I am.
I would have been all "put the mothereffer together yourself, and if you can't do it, throw the mothereffer away."
Because I am a biotch.
All we have is McDonald's toys... no assembly required. :)
Only God, and apparently Blog Stedman, can make a dragonfly...
Yeah, but yours has pizazz and overall originality!
That's funny. I probably would have given up.
Thanks for visiting my site
I would have given up in about five seconds. You are a better mom than I. . .
And your assembly resume . . . I envy you. Really, I do.
Thank you for reminding me that there is a reason I hate Chick-fil-A.
I will be calling you for help with Transformers in the future. (I almost threw my son's across the room once).
And the dragonfly? Your version looked more alive...Nice job :D
Maybe he could make the bumblebee next time. Yikes.
And THAT is precisely why we don't do fast food.
Those toys are EVIL. My son something similar and we never did figure it out.
It would take me a long time to assemble one of those toys, even without distractions. My 14 yr old could do it in 15 minutes. He can build the most amazing creations from legos, knex, etc. When he was much younger, he solved the wooden blocks not stacking the way he wanted problem by putting the pieces on the floor and then using elmers glue in them. Once it dried, he put it upright again.
love it!
The dragonfly is impossible. I used tape. And glue. And the we decided that it wasn't worth it. Today we made a honeybee...much easier.
Couldn't get the final two big pieces together on the honeybee. So close, but hopeless.
It's sad to see fine crafting skills disappear from our culture. I have run various workshops and classes for children using paper, wood, plastic, etc., and for the most part when they start out, they are clueless and all thumbs. Parents have not taught them these things. It's my belief that many are not teachable any more because they lack the ability to consentrate and follow simple instructions - written, spoken or from a video. They want to be entertained not trained to entertain themselves by designing or modifying, building and playing with their own creations. For those who do learn, there are zillions of paper toys waiting to be printed out and assembled on the Web. It's an inexpensive source of projects that can lead to an interest in creating things. Inspirational projects in cereal boxes and the like inspired several of my friends and I to spend hours figuring them out (I'm talking about a long time ago!) and moving on to more difficult challenges - like engineering! They taught us that doing hard things are not only fun, but have lasting benefits. Of course the culture supported it more too, we weren't geeks, just high achievers. If more companies were bold enough to provide challenges like these paper insects to more children, maybe we'd eventually see fewer complainers who think they are entitled to have things made easy for them and more inovation that characterized our country in the past. I applaud those who spend the time to puzzle it out and at least show their children that persistence and delayed gratification can pay off. I also thank Chick Fillet for implementing this grand social experiment. Rather than shun the opportunity, it's time to bring all the kids and start a revolution!
Thanks Anonymous for that information, I just wish you would leave your name so we could have an engaging conversation.
Let me start with that I am the BIGGEST fan of imagination toys. My children play for the most part with blocks, legos, tinker toys and other building toys when we are not outside playing in an unstructured way. I home school for this VERY reason. I think children these days - especially boys - are shoved into structured situations WAY BEFORE their time.
Now, on to the kid's meal toy. The kid's meal, by definition is for kids. The largest kid's meal is sized for the age 6 and under crowd. My seven year old already needs more food than a kid's meal contains. SO, I would expect that the toys that come in these meals would be sized accordingly. I love Chick-fil-A and mentioned that above. They usually do an amazing job finding an educational item to put into their kid's meals. Often a book, or a workbook that is just perfect compared with the promotional CRAP that other fast food restaurants place in their meals.
My reaction to this situation is out of humor. They missed the mark a bit on the age appropriate-ness of this "toy". Obviously it wasn't that big of a deal. I thought it was funny. I wrote about it because even I, who have assembled many a piece of IKEA furniture couldn't get it right. But it was free. It was an experience. It was something to write about that made me laugh at myself for my inadequacies...
Thanks for leaving a comment. Next time please stand behind it with your name.
HILARIOUS! Our Chick-fil-A just started handing these out again (must be in between toys or something) and we hadn't put any together until tonight. I had just been piling them up (we go to Chick-fil-A more often than we should apparently) and tonight our 3-year old asked if we could put them together.
"SURE! Daddy and I will each make one!"
Oh my word - like you, we both have advanced degrees and it took us each at least 30 minutes to put together the ladybug (me - it was the "easy" one) and the praying mantis (my husband - this one looked much more difficult), but he came out with a broken leg. The praying mantis that is...not my husband.
I actually just found your blog now because I Googled "Insect Engineer" to see if anyone posted anything about how difficult these were - ha!!
-Erin Marie
I also ran across this while Googling Chick-Fil-A Insect Engineer. We have managed to assemble the butterfly, twice without too much trouble but we are on the second honey bee. What a nightmare!!! I tried putting one together last week and gave up halfway, assuming my husband would come home and fix it with no problem. He is usually a master at this kind of thing. He proclaimed that I had it together wrong, had to take it totally apart and by the time he started to reassemble it, the tabs were breaking off and he got so mad he crumbled it and put it in the trash. We were "lucky" enough to get another one tonight and he wanted to challenge himself. An hour later he is still trying to get it together, after using tape AND glue and having all kinds of trouble. This is a man that never has trouble with stuff like this! My daughter asked if the bee was ready before she went to bed. We told her hopefully he'd be ready at breakfast. Now I'm not so sure LOL! I'm sure the Chick-Fil-A people are getting a huge kick out of this!
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