Scope of Hard Knocks

The moment. It’s what every parent hopes for with every gift they give their children. The moment when pure joy shines from that little face, the moment when a mere present becomes a doorway to a bigger, more wonderful world. Once you’ve felt that high, you’ll chase it every birthday and Christmas for the rest of your life.

In the moment, your kid won’t know that 120x magnification just basically turns a flower petal into a bigger flower petal. They won’t know that the Amazon reviews for this USB microscope are thick with phrases like “don’t get your expectations too high”, “seems a bit flimsy”, and “good enough at this price point.” They will see nothing but pure possibility opening up before them, a carnival of fascinating microscopic snapshots and video. And you’ll be able to say to yourself, I did that.

After that, one of two things will happen. Either they’ll embrace this microscope, limitations and all, and learn some important lessons about the natural world, lessons they’ll pursue far after they’ve outgrown this particular microscope. Or they’ll get bored with it by lunchtime and learn some important lessons about not getting your hopes up, spurning all microscopes forevermore. In that case, imagine all the money you’ve saved yourself toward future microscope purchases.

Either way, you’ll have had the moment. Isn’t that worth any price? Or at least this price? It’s inevitable that you’re going to disappoint your child. This way, it only costs you ten bucks.