Tough Toy

At my school, we hardly ever buy toys or throw them away. People donate toys to us, and when they break, we fix them. Until the bitter end. I've learned to repair things after more than 10 years of watching my co-workers do it. Many toys have been kept for years after I would have thrown them away.

One toy that I have kept fixing year after year that really should be gotten rid of is a Fisher Price toy airplane. The door is gone, the tail is missing, there's no window. A few years ago I wrote on the plane as a joke, after applying more duct tape to it. I created an airline, complete with a tagline: "Risky Airlines--We'll get you there...maybe." It stays in the block room, and the kids continue to play with it. We keep putting duct tape on the sharp parts, and I rewrite the RA slogan in black Sharpie pen. We'll keep that plane until it has to be grounded, and then we'll turn it into a museum.