Don't buy. Rent a teddy

When I was a little boy, back in the Stone Ages, toys were unimaginative plastic blobs that only made interesting noises if they weren't made in India. I learnt nothing from them except -- as all boys must -- how to break them as efficiently as possible. Now, of course, it is possible for one to buy toys with IQs higher than that of the average MBA student. And, you have the option of renting them too.

Rentoys (.in) has a lot going for it. The potential to make a lot of parents very happy, for one, considering how much harder -- and expensive -- it is to keep a child in good humour in our time of inflationary prices. You simply check the catalogue, sign up if you like what you see, opt for packages starting at Rs 250 per month, and pick a payment option you are most comfortable with. The toys, listed by age group from newborns to 5+, come from reputed brands. By this, I mean they are horribly expensive to own. And keeping in mind your child has probably grown a few inches in the time it has taken you to read these paragraphs, renting is an extremely practical idea.

There are other companies who promise it too -- like Mumbai-based KhilonaGhar (.com), Toysforrent.co.in (which has nothing more than a landing page), and another Bengaluru-based company called, succinctly, Toys-On-Rent (.com). None appear to have spent as much time on their user interface as Rentoys, though.

For those with unruly children (my mother would sympathise), Rentoys also claims to charge for broken parts rather than the whole toy. I don't know how they plan to do this, but the thought must count for something. They also follow a three-step sanitisation process between each rental and let you buy toys at discounts if your children grow a little too fond of the rented ones.

Will it work? Yes, if they attract numbers. Not all Indian parents may appreciate renting, nor will many be convinced about a cleaning process they have no control over. But, it's a start.

-- Lindsay Pereira is Editor, MiD DAY Online
twitter.com/ lindsay pereira