toys.kids.want.for.their.'leisure.time.'
This article makes me sick. Coining terms such as KGOY (Kids Growing Older Younger) and re-classifying "making toys for kids" to "vying for kids’ leisure time", the toy industry has apparently oriented toy production to re-creating electronic devices such as laptops and cellphones and other gadgets. According to them younger kids are demanding more high-tech play things because they want to "role-play what they see in society”. Doesn't something seem extremely wrong here?
I call bull shit. Clearly the issue that's surfaced here is oriented towards the fact that parents are spending less time with their kids playing and more time on their blackberry's, mp3 players, iPhones, laptops. If you're a parent and you spend a considerable amount of attention to your appliances, of course your kids are going to want to be engaged with it to.
I consider that my childhood was relatively more high-tech than the average pre-schooler, but my parents totally managed tech-play with moderation. It was a special treat for my dad and I to stay up til midnight playing Hardball on his classic mac, or exploring adventure games like Cosmic Osmo together. But this current trend is perverse. Look parents, if you have kids, play with them. As much as I think video games and computers really did enrich my life as a child, my most memorable play was the stuff I used my imagination for. Remember pillow forts? Remember playing dress up? Geez.
I consider that my childhood was relatively more high-tech than the average pre-schooler, but my parents totally managed tech-play with moderation. It was a special treat for my dad and I to stay up til midnight playing Hardball on his classic mac, or exploring adventure games like Cosmic Osmo together. But this current trend is perverse. Look parents, if you have kids, play with them. As much as I think video games and computers really did enrich my life as a child, my most memorable play was the stuff I used my imagination for. Remember pillow forts? Remember playing dress up? Geez.
I'm definitely punting the next pre-schooler I see with their own iPhone. *fumes*
Comments
While we do spend sometime in front of the laptop from time to time to watch old sesame street/electric company skits on YouTube, we try to minimize our email time on it when the kids are awake. You have to sometimes check online for weather or if the library is open. The kids are gonna see us use it.
Sometimes, I do put her infront of the Mac with TextEdit on and the font size set really big. She enjoys pretending to type and all that jazz. She actually pretends to be writing emails to her cousin and whomever.
Nothing you can do about the cell phone, they are gonna see you using it. The issue is that toddlers want to be like grown ups. They want toys like they see mommy and daddy using. She has asked for an iPod (not going to happen) just because as a special treat, sometimes we watch the Sesame Street podcast. These devices are not items she sees me use all day. I may spent at most 15 minutes of an entire day infront of them when she is awake (do 99% of my gaming while she is sleeping), but still she wants them to mimic adult behavior.
These are not substitution for the type of creative time/imaginative play that you have such fond memories of. These are just additions/supplementals.
*kidlets had me up crazy early this morning so coherency is at an all time low*
I guess the other half of the situation is the fact that the toy companies are beginning to market closer towards this social situation, there-by avoiding toys of 'lower-tech'. And you know how trends go. The more they market this stuff, the more that gets sold, the more quickly they'll replace ye toys of olde. And these kids aren't dumb, they don't want the plastic fisher price versions, they want the real deal.
Maybe I don't know enough about kids and child raising (because I really don't) to make these assumptions, but I still think this article exhibits a scary sort of aura about the children of the generation to come. Or maybe I'm just old fashioned thinking kids still like stuffed animals instead of blackberries. *sigh*
And yes, they see everything that mommy and daddy have as toys. I have seen kiddie pagers that beep just like a real pager. If only they knew that I would give anything to go back to the days when pagers didn't exist and employees weren't on call 24/7.
The tech toys, in one sense, are like a mini initiation and preparation for corporate citizenship. Over the years, toy makers have shifted their marketing away from the parents and directly to the kids. They are preparing the children to be future consumers of real tech products.
Like in your family, video games are generally played with dad and computer usage is limited and supervised. That leaves lots of hours in the day for non-tech play, reading and imagination.
Another great post on a subject that you are obviously very passionate about.
Thanks for sharing your insight.
I shy away from toys that require batteries. There's nothing in the world as satisfying as a cardboard box you can fit yourself and at least a couple others in.
it seems to me that now children much earlier join to modern technical equipment. And this happens because we live in time of technical progress.
My parents invested a lot of their time in playing with me and my sister, and still I was so stoked to get my moms old typewriter or an old telephone (which was useless of course, but I loved pretending to call my "lawyer", haha). This was before mobiles and internet. We didn't even have cable. Kids are fascinated with techology, because they see adults dealing with it on a daily basis, and they want to emulate adults. I can see why the thought of a pre-schooler with a mobile is disturbing, but at the same time I think it is not really that big of a deal. Better mobiles than toy guns, I guess?
My concern however relies in the pure fear of children becoming adjusted to this kind of technology and equipment without any concept of being separated from those tools as well. If we're going to be flexible about getting our children engaged in technology at a young age, it is our responsibility to define moderation for them. I'm concerned that while parents are too busy fooling around with their cellphones, their children will do the same and think that's the appropriate behavior when they should be interacting directly with each other.
Or maybe I'm just a little too paranoid. I'll have to write up my sentiments regarding iPod culture sometime soon ...