In our current toy purge, I’m getting rid of two big, bulky and incredibly annoying toy cell phones. You know, the ones that play really long loud songs with all barks or meows instead of musical notes. They also start ringing and singing long after your kid has stopped playing with them — kind of like they’re begging for attention.

I’m very happy to say that there is a toy cell phone that my daughter just got from my parents that is a true pleasure to have around – the Parents Cell Phone. Hers is a slick metallic orange and looks a lot like a real cell phone. It also has a button to record short messages to play back. Just don’t get too attached to the message you record, because the button is on the side of the phone, so it will get inadvertently pushed when the phone is held. But it’s always fun to just record another one.

There are two pre-recorded messages that talk about going to play outside and saying “I love you so much”. Half the time my kids hear the “let’s go outside to play” message and it actually makes them want to go outside to play. And my son loves playing the “I love you so much” message for me about 20 times a day, giving me a big smile and hug to go with it.

Other than that, the buttons basically make normal phone beeping sounds, with two of them playing music. Don’t be scared. It’s classical guitar music that I actually enjoy listening to!

$9.89 at Target