Too Many Toys
A year ago last fall, I was asked by the Hasbro Toy Company to consider being a spokesperson for their line of early childhood toys. Hasbro recently bought Playskol, a well established, and well regarded, maker of playthings for young children. Before accepting, I had a meeting with the manager of the division, and with some of the designers and creators, at their offices in Pawtucket Rhode Island. I was particularly interested in seeing their current crop of toys. We met in a conference room in which the long mahogany conference table was covered with a wide variety of playthings. Among the array of toys, I was pleased to see cans of Playdoh, because I regard it as a plastic material that leaves plenty of room for children to use their imagination. That is why I bought Playdoh for my sons when they were preschoolers. It troubled me, however, to see that Hasbro now packages cookie like molds and even an “ice cream” maker along with the play dough. These add-ons would seem to constrain, rather than to encourage, imagination and creativity. I noticed similar add-ons for other classic Playskol playthings.
When I asked about this, I was assured that the add-ons left plenty of room for imagination and creativity and that such add-ons were in fact suggested by parental focus groups. While some parents may feel their children need more direction, it should not be at the expense of limiting creative play. I then asked the question that had been troubling me since I first looked at all of the toys on the table. I said, “Playskol has a long and respected history of making creative playthings for young children, but now it seems you are including add-ons that constrain creativity just to sell more products. How can you combine making quality playthings for children with making big profits to satisfy share holders?” I was not given a satisfactory answer, but the truth was obvious. After looking at what Hasbro was offering young children I realized that I could not, in good conscience, be an advocate for their products.
What has happened at Hasbro is characteristic of the toy industry as a whole, the needs and interests of children have become secondary to demands of shareholders. In the past, parents were the ones who bought toys and toy makers had to be sure that the toys they produced reflected parental values. Toy companies could do this because most were privately owned and were not beholden to shareholders. In addition, because producing toys was expensive, toymakers limited their production to toys that parents would buy. All that has changed, most toy companies are now publicly owned and toy makers are now responsible to shareholders not parents. In addition, thanks to mass production and cheap Chinese labor, toys are being produced in huge numbers and at low cost. Last, but not least, parent values are now shaped by skillful advertising that promotes even harmful toys as beneficial. Parents have also been persuaded that toys need to be purchased year around and not just on special occasions. The result is that children, particularly young children, have many too many toys.
Toys are not merely playthings; they are tools for learning about the self and world. If you are just learning to be a carpenter, you do not need power tools. A hammer and saw, will start you out. In the same way, if you are just learning about yourself and world, you don’ need computers, CD’s and battery operated toys. As a novice learner, a rattle and a plush toy are all an infant needs to start him or her on the journey of self and world discovery. The truth is that the majority of toys for infants and young children today have little or no developmental value and are sold primarily with the aim of making money.
When buying playthings for infants and young children, therefore, keep in mind that they will learn more with a few tools than with many. They will also learn more from playthings that allow for imagination and creativity than those of the “watch me” variety which are merely entertaining.
Submitted by Professor Elkind on Mon, 17/11/2008 - 1:05pm.
Comments
Open Ended
I found this with Halloween costumes this year too. They come with every last piece including jewelry. But my kids prefer to make their own costumes from scarves, capes, hats etc. Then they can create their vision of a what a princess or wizard looks like, not some cookie cutter costume.
Toy Company Profits
We all know what's behind this, toy companies need to sell more toys, and more expensive toys, that's how they make their profit. So they think up more and more complex toys with more “features” to justify the extra price. The fact that infants thrive on less, and more simple toys is in conflict with toy companies goals.
Hasbro CEO
Good on you! I looked up Hasbro’s CEO, & he earned over $10,000,000 last year, and is about to retire with a pension fund of over $17,0000,000. So I guess we know why they have to make toys you could not possibly endorse!
Temporary treasures. Too Many toys!
We have too many toys!
For some time now my wife and I have been looking for a good way to do something about the flood of 'temporary treasures' that well-meaning family and friends send to us, and the kids as gifts at Christmas, birthdays and other holidays. We are very appreciative of the thought, and the kids love opening fancy boxes - but surely there must be a better way. The difficulty of course is that gifts very often seem to separate and move rapidly in many small pieces to a surprising number of different places in our home, cars, and in the yard. The excitement changes to some frustration, much clutter and quite a bit of work to clean, organize, store, repair (often fruitlessly) and frequently dispose of these items. Many I find tucked in boxes with missing pieces, or immediately abandoned. I feel a bit sad to see it all pile up, and so little time spent enjoying it all.
The more toys they have - the less they are valued.
For a few years now our family has been trying to change our consumption practices - buy less, and borrow, fix and reuse more. We think it is the right thing to do for the planet, the kids and the community. In fact, we've notices that when the kids have less - there is a change in their attitudes towards their stuff. When there is less - they no longer step on their possessions. This is a primary measurement in our house of how much we value our things. There is a zero tolerance policy for clothes and books. They are never ever on the floor - and we certainly do not every step on one. But - the toys are often another story. With few exceptions - the more there are, the less they are each valued.
Making a decision to buy
If we are considering buying a new item for our home, or a toy for the children - we have developed a simple process, by asking several questions. When we see something interesting in a store or magazine we talk about it, and ask the following questions:
* How will we use it?
* How will we store it?
* Will it make our lives better?
* Is it something we principally already have?
* Can we borrow it?
* Is there an alternative that is better?
* Do we really want or need it?
* Would we want to use this money for anything else instead?
We are careful not to promote a scarcity mentality with phrases like. "we can't afford that". We emphasize choices (based on a recognition of the notion of finite resources), and age appropriate consequences of buying decisions. Often, the conversation with the children is very interesting, and the children change their minds on their own when they think about it more carefully.
We also have a few rules for buying something new.
* We never buy something we see for the first time (no impulse shopping for us, or the kids);
* If an item is truly worthy - it must be mentioned several times over the next few weeks - NOT prompted by advertising of any kind.
* When we buy an toy or item for our home - it is often a specific trip for just that item.
We don't have the answer yet - but one thing we are trying is BorrowMe.com. We have created a family borrowing wish list, and have listed our toys and items as well - so somebody else to use them if we are not.
Our hope is that this platform will be a way to give something truly meaningful to our family, without all the waste, clutter and hidden costs of the 'traditional' consumption model.
-- Sean
http://www.borrowme.com/sean
Kids Affiliation with toys
Kids or highly possessive regarding their toys and their affiliation with the toys is quite strong that they feel their imaginary life incomplete with out them , so I agree with you that parents should purchase such toys , a baby can learn a lot while playing with them, not just killing the time.
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