"Rub N Color"

WHAAAAT!? No no no no NO! THE POINT OF COLORING IN PICTURES IS TO PICK YOUR OWN COLORS AND COLOR IT YOUR OWN WAY! I MEAN, WHAT IN THE-- THAT COMPLETELY-- AUGH!

Anybody seen those commercials for this "Rub N Color" thing? Just rub, and color! No mess! Rub your finger on these PRE-COLORED images and whatever color the company put in MAGICALLY APPEARS!

That RUINS the whole POINT of coloring! Not only is coloring one of those activities that help kids develop coordination and stuff, but also creatively and mentally... I mean, learning to color inside the lines develops hand-eye coordination and recognition and that kind of stuff. And picking your own colors is what develops creativity! What's the fun if you rub on a bear and whadya know, it's brown? My sister's shown me a tie-dye bumblebee, and you know what? It looks very nice! And what's even better is SHE COLORED IT HERSELF.

I mean, this is one step closer to that little mention in that Ray Bradbury story, where children no longer draw their own pictures but watch as a "picture painter" makes them instead. Coloring pages should be OUTLINES and NO MORE! Sure, go ahead, put fancy textures and stuff on the paper. Put in little areas of magic ink. But DO NOT COLOR IT FOR THE KIDS! LET THEM DO IT THEMSELVES! What is the point of coloring if you just sweep your hand over this piece of paper and BAM! It's colored!

Sure, they have those blank white sheets that you can rub and make your own colorful drawings, but what's that I hear? It's been DONE before? I've seen something just LIKE that on a commercial years ago? Whadya know! And besides, that's just a scratchboard with rainbow colors underneath. How about this... instead of buying fancy expensive paper like that, why not get a set of colored pencils and PLAIN WHITE PRINTER PAPER?

Has the world become so lazy that COLORING PAGES need to be pre-colored?