With Christmas fast approaching, kids are being told to start on their toy lists. Soon aunts and uncles, along with grandparents will be getting these lists.
In the past these wish lists were short and sweet. A doll, an inexpensive game, or a model plane to build. Now the lists need to be deciphered, with a thousand calls made to parents, so that the correct items are purchased. The prices of some of these toys exceed the military budgets of many countries.
Then the big day comes, as one expensive toy after another, with all the bells and whistles on it, are opened and cast into a huge waste pile; for many of these toys will only be touched to move them aside in search of others to play with. There is no interest in these toys after a few minutes, it was just to see how big the pile would be.
Then a tragedy occurs. One last present to open. It's from an old uncle or aunt living on a fixed income. The present is from the past, a small inexpensive, metal or wooden car or train. It was found in a trunk in the attic, or bought in a second hand store. Suddenly the child's eyes light up. It's a strange toy indeed. No bright colors, no lights and it doesn't make any noise at all. Last but not least, no batteries needed to propel this strange new toy.
Now it's the adults turn to be disappointed. Realizing the credit card bill will soon be in the mail and that toy laying in the pile will have to be paid for in instalments; while that simple toy gets all the undivided attention from all of the kids around.
Just watch the kids as they have fun with empty large boxes, or blankets draped over chairs. Let them float around in that magical land of let's pretend. Or would you rather have them in a zombie state as they sit and stare at a toy that robs them of all that is magical to be a child.
Give a child one of these new fan dangle toy that does a thousand and one things with a press of a button; and watch them get bored with it after a few minutes. But give them a simple large cardboard box, and they will play for days, or until it is finally destroyed from over use.
There is even a greater tragedy in all of this. By the time most of these kids reach five or six, they can rival Donald Trump with all the toys they have; that they don't play with.
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4 comments:
Right on the money again.
What an excellent observation. We've alwas bought crappy electronic gadgets for my nephews who are whit I like to refer to as "real boys" i.e. batten down the hatches before they show up for a visit. This year a book caught my eye entitled, "The Dangerous Book for Boys". Along with that, they'll both be receiving Swiss Army knives. What needs to be done is to get more kids off of Ritalin and back on the streets having fun playing with one another like I did when I was a child. I remember having to be dragged off the street to come inside the house because it was daek outside. Those were the days.
Nice to see that someone else remembers the days when kids had to be dragged into the house at night after playing outside all day.
Now it's a chore to get them to even go outside as they are to busy with the gameboys and TV.
Don't get any ideas, Iain already has that book.
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