I would know. I have quite a few. I've read a lot of other blogs from the 30 day challenge and many of them involve babies, kids, playing with kids. But I never hear anything about toys.
Why?
I often use to think it was because toys are god damn expensive.
I just got a NERF gun called the Long Strike. I'm in the process of repainting it, it'll be up soon. It's 4 feet long
Regular price? $39.99.
For a Toy Gun. Thats outrageous. No wonder I never owned one when I was younger. I only picked it up because it was on sale.
It really sucks that Toys have increased in price so much. As a collector, I've seen prices skyrocket in the last 5 years. Figures that started out $6.99 now run for $11.99. Deluxe Toys/Vehicles from 10-15 now range from $20-30.
But I notice a ton of kids now have SHITLOADS of toys and they just play with something for one or two days and toss it aside to forever sit in a corner. Really crazy, expensive toys. So although toys are more expensive, parents are buying more of them. So then why do I rarely hear about them?
It's because toys over time have become just a simple distraction. I rarely see a kid value their toy and play with it for extended periods of time, cherish it by bringing it everywhere and throwing them in every kind of scenario imaginable. I might not be 100% correct, and there are kids out there who love and are deeply involved with their toys. But from what I witness, very few kids truly cherish the toys they are gifted.
I don't know what I'm getting at. I just use to have a few toys I cherished and my childhood revolved around. Now I see kids surrounded in a room full of expensive awesome toys while sitting in the middle playing a handheld video game.
So I keep collecting toys to keep the dreams alive.
I also feel that if a blog post has pictures people would tend to read them more. That's why I post pictures in all of mine. But didn't feel like bringing a Camera out today so decided to try a small rant without photographs and see who read its to the end. If you read it to the end, comment below and say "I buy toys for my kid, but really I still play with them"
I don't have any kids. I buy toys (and games...especially games) for me.
ReplyDeleteI buy toys for my kid and I do still play with them. But some of the toys just don't... work the same way. As an adult I'm too aware that I'm "playing" with them and the imagination has a tough time taking over. But with my son involved I can go "vroom vroom" and driving a tiny toy car over the couch or cushions only to have it careen through midair and somehow miraculously end up on my knee, which leads to my foot to the wall and vertically upward to the window sill all while going "vroooooom!!!" out loud. Yeah, I do that, but only when I'm playing with my son.
ReplyDeleteA really fun part about having kids (my oldest is 2.5 years and my youngest can't really use his hands) is getting to play with the toys with them. I can't *wait* until they can play Lego. We have some large style duplo/mega-blocks but I want to have mountains of the really tiny space lego. My mom still has the Lego my brother & I accumulated. When my son's old enough he'll get to play with it. I'm so excited for that day even though it's years away.
I don't buy my children many toys. It feels a bit silly when I do because they have so many toys as it is. Many hand-me-down toys have been gifted to them and relatives or close friends often give toy gifts to them. They have so many toys that they don't need more. I like Christmas for the excuse to buy him a toy.
My son is still young enough that he doesn't ask for toys, he doesn't ask for things. Soon enough he'll be at the age where he's constantly asking for money to buy expensive gadgets but for now some 30 year old matchbox cars are just as awesome.
I am from the pre Toys are Us generation and to be honest my parents main objective in life wasn't to shower me with lots of stuff. So I had a few Toys that I remember really well. But to be honest I was outside as much as humanly possible, so my bike was #1. We made puppet shows with boxes and stuff, we made a go-cart with old wheels and wood. We would have toothpick races and smash rocks to look inside (I was a bit of a tomboy).
ReplyDeleteWe didn't have many distractions so made our own fun. I think this has changed significantly.