Why don’t children want toys for Christmas any more?

When did it all change?  Why do children now shun toys in favour of computer games and dvd’s?  Apparently they are now too old for toys by their 7^th birthday!!! Er – shouldn’t that be at the peak of their playing with toys age when they are now able to handle the lego bricks etc. with dexterity and use their imagination to make things with meccano, play games with cars and dolls etc.???  When did children become teenagers at 7 years old?  They used to reach double figures in their age before they were too old for toys.

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I know times have changed a lot and children no longer seem to play outdoor games like skipping, ball games, chasing etc. because they can’t play out in the street any more or go to the park on their own but we do still have back gardens in this more modern society so why don’t they ever want to play in the garden any more?  Don’t get me wrong – they do sometimes play in the back garden but given the choice they would probably be happier watching television or playing computer games.  Also the age that they are happy in the garden seems to have dropped to about five or six years old. 

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Not only don’t they seem to play in the gardens, but they don’t seem to want to play with actual toys any more.  Any toys that they do want are only played with for a very short time before being ignored for the pull of the video games and dvd’s.  Some toys are classed as 6+ because they are too intricate and complicated for younger children so I suppose these types of construction toys will just die out completely.

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Most houses with families seem to have the television on from the moment they get up in the morning until they go to bed at night and it is only turned off when the last person leaves the house or goes to bed.  Well it is obviously not just houses with children as often the television is constantly on in any house but the most disturbing thing is that it has become “the norm” to have the television on in the background permanently whether anyone is watching it or not.  The children get distracted from any other play just because it is on.  But in most cases they will watch their favourite dvd or play a computer game many times a day rather than indulge in any play with actual toys. 

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It is so much easier for parents to just let the children watch television, dvd’s or play computer games than to bother playing with the children themselves or have the children playing noisily with toys.  Plus of course putting a few dvd’s away at the end of the day is a lot easier than clearing up a lot of toys and there are no arguments with the children about putting their toys away.

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Most children these days have their own television and dvd player in their bedroom and go to sleep watching a dvd instead of having a bedtime story and lights out.  How do parents know how much sleep little Johnny has if they leave a 2 hour dvd playing?  How do they even know he doesn’t get up and put another one on when it finishes?  More importantly, how do children learn to go to sleep by just closing their eyes and laying there until they fall asleep?  Are they all going to grow up to have to have the television on to be able to go to sleep?

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I know I am sounding like an old grandma now but “it was different in my day” as we used to play outside all the time and play with toys all day if it was wet or it was too late to play outside.  When my own children were young they played in each others gardens and with toys indoors, as the only children’s television programmes on at all were a 15 minute one at lunch time for the pre-school children, then a 15 minute one at tea time for the young ones followed by 30 minutes for the slightly older children and lastly 30 minutes for the older children and that was it.  Oh and there was a Saturday morning programme for the slightly older children.  Computer games were around for my older children but not really that interesting until my youngest was old enough to play them.

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Apart from turning the kids into couch potatoes, what are we doing to their minds when they can’t interact and act out scenarios with toys.  Imagination will disappear along with the toys.  Even baby and toddler toys are now all electronic gadgets rather than just building bricks, soft toys, shapes etc. There are very few toy shops left these days as no-one wants toys any more.  Apart from toys for toddlers, will toys disappear for ever – no more pretend toys, building toys?  Will toy cars and dolls become a thing of the past and only be seen in museums? 

Here’s today trivia snippet:

Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least six (6) feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.  

(I keep my toothbrush in the living room now!)

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Followed by today’s chuckle:

UNDERSTANDING WOMEN  (A MAN'S PERSPECTIVE)
I know I'm not going to understand women.
I'll never understand how you can take boiling hot wax, pour it onto your upper thigh, rip the hair out by the root, and still be afraid of a spider.