Changing Toys

The kinds of toys kids play with can tell much about a society They evolve like everything else. To a great extent the more popular kid toys today are the least imaginative ones. This reflects the fact that technology has taken control of us to the extent that it entertains us more than we entertain ourselves. Kids still pretend and still sometimes (especially when they are very small before being captured by electronic gadgets) play with the old toys that will be universal for all time, the doll or sled for instance.

If one looked beneath a Christmas tree in 2011 and then flashed back to 1955, not only would there be many more toys beneath the 2011 tree, but many of them would be the passive type in which the child "turns it on" and is entertained. Imagination would be needed far less in the child of 2011. It's shocking that so many parents give Christmas gifts like iphones to their toddler. Parents too are not challenged to use their imagination as much today . We adults are asked to use our imagination less and less with each computer chip generated device to which we surrender.

In past generations kids used to spend hours running, playing and imagining outside. Now they stay inside and "connect" to an electronic device. They used to walk, wander in the neighborhood and outside. Now they more often wander in virtual worlds that present information rather than demand they create it. I think parents encourage the new toys because they keep their children "safe" in a complex and sometimes what appears to be a more dangerous world.

I wonder if the simple unstructured play part of childhood is missing too much now. When so, kids lose their childhood and deaden their imaginations in the process. Or maybe I have it wrong. Maybe all the devices that kids flock to today create a different kind of play and imagination that is positive. My instinct tells me it is not so because the toys that kids use today seem to be too much like adult activities. When the four year old plays with the same cell phone as mom and dad and not with dolls or pretending to be a cowboy.

I wonder if the childhood period today isn't as distinct as before, and that this might imply that a child who misses out on distinct childhood adventures and replaces them with activities that children share with older ages is harmed in the process.