The proper tool for asjusting childrens toys.....

[forestwalker]

Simple toys are the best ones, no need for all these complicated toys with limbs missing or indeed additional appendages in some cases, how often have you given a child a toy you think they will like, and they sit there playing with the cardboard box instead totally ignoring the toy itself?

One warning; of you make a baby rattle from hoofs (moose are big enough to pass the modern anti-choking specs, red deer might pass as well) you will find that they are quite loud. Better stick with rawhide rattles.

 

[Tadpole]

I wonder about the mindset of people who design things like that..........dogs with no legs, stuck for eternity inide wee cars
Nice (ahem) slip of rhe axe that man

I was once given a gonk as a 9th birthday present, by an aunt whose daughter was a year older than me. To this day I wonder what the hell I was intended to do with it...........it was a google eyed, green fur covered sponge tube with plastic feet and apparantly it was all the rage

I have dire reservations about the interpretation future archaeologiists will make on our times

cheers,
Toddy

I have to disagree with you gonks are no more illogical than a teddy bear, I was given a teddy bear when was young (I can’t remember when) I cannot remember not having it, and now my daughter has him. He still growls. Moreover, other than cuddling up to, playing tea parties and ‘listening’ to my little one as she complained about the lack of fairness in the world, he has no ‘purpose or intrinsic function’. Does that make the bear of no value to a modern child?
Would not a child whose ‘bear’ were not bear shaped but a gonk shaped, love that “Green fur covered sponge tube with plastic feet” as much as a classic and acceptable brown fur shape filled with straw and sawdust?

Hard plastic toys have as much place/right, in the life of a modern child as rag dolls and play blocks. Toys are like language, music, and food , they all evolve, and each generation has to let go of their own preconceived ideas about appropriateness of said items for the new generation.

 

[mr dazzler]

Hard plastic toys have as much place/right, in the life of a modern child as rag dolls and play blocks. Toys are like language, music, and food , they all evolve, and each generation has to let go of their own preconceived ideas about appropriateness of said items for the new generation.

fair enough, but I agree with the "plastic cwap" side of the debate. I often wonder if they were designed to have a mind numbing effect. Well meaning folk think kids want this stuff, but a lot of it is passive, you dont need to engage the crative imagination, just sit and endure "harr, harr, my stop sign says RED" (these little jingles get in your head dont they ) My 4 year old's favourite plaything par excellence is his shovel, whuich I made for him from a birch log, the plastic cwap version shattered when I stepped on it (by accident, not intent ) And his wood tractor which I also made. He has that mixed collection of found objects organised chaos type thing, uses the shovel to move it all around the lounge It is also a banjo, bat, sword, microphone stand etc etc. That ball and cup game is brilliant to develop hand eye cordination. I always think the simpler something is the more your imagination and creativity is stretched to make it interesting. LOL it reminds me of the time when I was about 4 and there was a storm. The next morning I heard the neighbour saying to my dad "oh bill a lot of our roof tiles flew off last night" I thought aha! I could make a kite from a roof tile then, and so I tried for several hours to make that tile fly on a string....

 

[Pierr]

Whatever your position/taste is about plastic toys, a more sensible way to dispose of it would be to give to some charity. There are a lot of toys collections around Christmas. Last year at the office we collected 400+ toys.

 

[Tadpole]

fair enough, but I agree with the "plastic cwap" side of the debate. I often wonder if they were designed to have a mind numbing effect. Well meaning folk think kids want this stuff, but a lot of it is passive, you dont need to engage the crative imagination, just sit and endure "harr, harr, my stop sign says RED" (these little jingles get in your head dont they ) My 4 year old's favourite plaything par excellence is his shovel, whuich I made for him from a birch log, the plastic cwap version shattered when I stepped on it (by accident, not intent ) And his wood tractor which I also made. He has that mixed collection of found objects organised chaos type thing, uses the shovel to move it all around the lounge It is also a banjo, bat, sword, microphone stand etc etc. That ball and cup game is brilliant to develop hand eye cordination. I always think the simpler something is the more your imagination and creativity is stretched to make it interesting. LOL it reminds me of the time when I was about 4 and there was a storm. The next morning I heard the neighbour saying to my dad "oh bill a lot of our roof tiles flew off last night" I thought aha! I could make a kite from a roof tile then, and so I tried for several hours to make that tile fly on a string....

Sadly, there have never been enough Mums and Dads to make much beloved toys, (my grandfather made my first split cane rod for me)
I’ve met a lot of parents, and most agree that plastic toys are not as good as the ones they played with. Which is surprising as they then bleat on about what great toy they had, toys like Action man, Barbie, slinkies, Rough racers, you know the real old classic toys.

Ok toys are more ‘disposable’ than they were waybackwhen, but waybackwhen the toys were as rubbish as they are now. Lead soldiers that the paint came off, die cast cars where the wheels crumbled if you left them in the sun, Dolls that the feet were made of clay and broke when dropped (my mothers doll was held together with flour glue and paper)
Kids I grew up with made their own toys, sticks and wire became guns, bamboo canes became tents, but we also had as much fun with buckaroo, or mousetrap, you know carp plastic toys.
I think imposing your own personal bias on your kids, is a damaging for your kids in the long run as allowing the government to do it. My daughter is 10 and has a mobile phone, she knows the rules about its use and so do her friends. When I was her age, my parents didn’t have a phone, should I say no to a phone for her just because I didn’t have one? When I was her age, there were at least 5 working public phones within a mile of where we lived. I’d still phone my friends for a quick chat.
Thing are different, kids are more sophisticated than we were, it doesn’t mean that they are no longer kids, they are just different.
My father was the first person in his class to have suit that didn’t look like a miniature version of his fathers work suit. Should I dress my daughter identically to her mother?
I don’t think my daughters childhood should be a mirror copy of my own. I’d like my daughter to enjoy the variety in her life, be it a plastic toy elephant given to her aged three, or a wooden toy made for her by Mors. Both of which she still cherishes.
Let them play with modern toys, let them have their disposable junk, rather that than plonk them in front of the idiot box in the corner, and let It fill their minds with inappropriate confusing messages.
Denying kids modern toys, insisting on old classic toys is all well, providing to give them something that went hand in hand with the classic toys, your time, and your involvement.
A Meccano set is all very well as a toy but unless someone helps the 6 year old, they are going to get bored with in a few moments, and that is when they start playing with the cardboard box.

 

[xylaria]

We got given a laughing clown. Nice pretty fabric one with friendly smile, it was just it laugh was triggers by the smallest movement, and sounded like something from a horror film. It would laugh manically at it strange moments, a child would fall over the clown would laugh. My daughter said the clown was "naughty for laughing, and it always laughed at mean things". The news came on mozambique had flooded and thousands had died, no-one the room moved but the clown laughed. So i removed its laugh by unpicking the stitches and removing the laughing box, it was taken outside and given the same treatment as Red's toy. The clown was stitched back up, and became a well loved toy.

 

[wanderingblade]

The biggest toy related travesty of the modern age in the complete bastardisation of lego.

Proper lego comprised of thousands of bits which you used your imagination to fashion into no end of models.

These days lego is just an airfix kit without the glue - half the thing is pre-formed and theres little room for adaptation.

Sad indeed.

 

[Tadpole]

The biggest toy related travesty of the modern age in the complete bastardisation of lego.

Proper lego comprised of thousands of bits which you used your imagination to fashion into no end of models.

These days lego is just an airfix kit without the glue - half the thing is pre-formed and theres little room for adaptation.

Sad indeed.

"Proper" European lego came in kits (28 different types and 12 different vehicle) right from the start.
Lego has always made kits, it was only in the USA where the boxes of Bricks were marketed before the lego kits, and that was way back in early 1962s. From 1966 Lego for the USA was made in kit form, with add-on packs of bricks.

Rose tinted glasses aside, Lego is still played with as much today in the ‘traditional’ way, by breaking up kits and making your own stuff. (I’ve nine nephews and nieces all of whom own/ed lego, nearly all of it stored in big plastic boxes with no instructions/boxes).
It seems only the adult collectors who build them, and never play with them, who keep boxes and instructions and the bricks neatly separate

 

[wanderingblade]

I remember the old kits and these always comprised of many basic parts - a wing, sloping block, windscreen - all parts that could be used to make many, many different models.

My son recently got a lego plane. The whole cockpit section was made up of 2 pieces and the same for the fusalage / tail section. It does limit the imagination when 2/3 of the plane are made up of only 4 parts.

And the rose-tinted window bits aren't what they used to be either.

 

[xylaria]

My son is obsessed with lego. We get a fancy starwars motorised dinosaur lego set, me and my daughter make the thing on the front of the box once, he then progessivly modifys what we have built until there is a whole host other novel dinosuar starwars flying machines armed with harry potter wands and chomping teeth, that then have dog fights across the living room floor. Children still have imagination you just have leave them too it.

 

[ladanddad]

The biggest toy related travesty of the modern age in the complete bastardisation of lego.

Proper lego comprised of thousands of bits which you used your imagination to fashion into no end of models.

These days lego is just an airfix kit without the glue - half the thing is pre-formed and theres little room for adaptation.

Sad indeed.

The same thing could be said to a lesser degree about modern mechano.

However i would have to disagree, as my eldest who is mildly autistic(a condition which frequently displays lack of imagination)makes the model as instructed a few times, them goes on to make all sorts of combinations with his other sets. My other would rather would rather play in the garden with a rope and tarp, i encourage and join in with both.

Any toy which allows a child to use imagination and develop coordination can only be good regardless of what it is made from. I dislike toys which have only one function. A little like bushcraft i suppose trying to make items multifunctional, just my opinion for what its worth.

 

[mr dazzler]

I think imposing your own personal bias on your kids, is a damaging for your kids in the long run as allowing the government to do it.

I dont care what parent your dealing with, or what view they have about raising kids, it is inevitable that they will impose their views and preferences on their kids, even if they have a laissez faire "dont dictate" view of it. And in any case I would rather it was me and the wife who were "imposing" (not that I think we do) than someone from school or on tv or the interent or whatever whose views and values may well differ radically from our own.
As far as plastic or wood toys, lets not forget theres some godawful cwap wooden stuff as well, wood isnt a magic be all end all. I am not a snob or social theorist when it comes to toys, but I intensely dislike toys that are badly designed, shoddily made and have no genuine play value. I dont waste money buying them, in fact I feel pity for the poor souls out there in china who work in sweat shop conditions churning out useless plastic (and wood) cwap "toys"-waste of resources, materials, labour, fuel, packaging blah blah blah. Another of my kids favourite playthings is there plastic diddi cars. Unlike the banal thing posted by Red, they are a very ingenious design for a self propelled car, original, clever and they love driving about on them.

 

[British Red]

Of course you should "impose a personal bias on your kids". Its called many things, morals, guidance, parenting, boundaries etc,

Excellent post.

I denied my daughter all sorts of things. Stuff that was wasteful. Stuff that was distateful, too grown up, dangerous, shoddy etc.

I'm very glad I did, I'm hugely proud of her and he achievements.

Red

 

[Tadpole]

Of course you should "impose a personal bias on your kids". Its called many things, morals, guidance, parenting, boundaries etc,

Excellent post.

I denied my daughter all sorts of things. Stuff that was wasteful. Stuff that was distateful, too grown up, dangerous, shoddy etc.

I'm very glad I did, I'm hugely proud of her and he achievements.

Red

Clearly I'm talking about toys, and not morals. Just because you don't like a toy, does not mean that your personal bias is right or even helpful for this time and this place. We should guide kids (beyond the nappy stage) and not impose. as for 'wasteful' how will your kids learn if you make all their choices for them.
I allowed my daughter to buy some toy that she had set her heart on (she paid for it out of her chore money) A few days later she confessed to me it was a waste, and since then she is much more careful with her hard earnt cash. A valuable lesson, far more positive than just denying her something because you didn't have one as a kid.

 

[mr dazzler]

Clearly I'm talking about toys, and not morals. Just because you don't like a toy, does not mean that your personal bias is right or even helpful for this time and this place. We should guide kids (beyond the nappy stage) and not impose. as for 'wasteful' how will your kids learn if you make all their choices for them.
I allowed my daughter to buy some toy that she had set her heart on (she paid for it out of her chore money) A few days later she confessed to me it was a waste, and since then she is much more careful with her hard earnt cash. A valuable lesson, far more positive than just denying her something because you didn't have one as a kid.

There we have it, you have clearly and eloquently explained your own preferred way of raising your child (or one aspect of it at least), its fine and works for you. (Actually you imposed it on your child, when you stop to think about it!) Other folk have different ideas whiuch work for them. Every child is different there is no one correct way to handle them, or a one size fits all approach. Thats why the modern child centred education industry fails so miserably-it works fine for a limited number of kids but doesnt suit many others. And this recuring notion of "not being biased" can become a preoccupation or prejudice in itself any way And just because you "impose" firm and consistent boundaries etc dictate what will and will not be allowed in the home, doesnt mean you have removed there freedom of choice or ability to learn responsibility, I fail to see that link ??

 

[Tye Possum]

I loved lego as a kid (or younger kid I should say...). I would buy kits because although I could have built stuff out of just the blocks, I liked having some pieces designed to be only one thing, like it's kind of hard to make a wing or window out of blocks. I would always build whatever was on the box using the instructions and play with it for a while but eventually I'd be bored with it and take it apart because one of the pieces would be perfect for something else I had in mind.

Speaking of annoying electronic toys though... I had these two karate fighting guys, they had loose arms and legs and a botton on their chests. You would click them onto this handle type thing with a knob on it and put them next to each other and turn the knob violently which made them spin back and forth and make karate sounds until one of the flailing limbs hit the button on the other guys chest and then it would pop off the handle and scream. I guess it's like an electronic, martial arts version of rock 'em sock 'em robots. Anyways, after a while they got boring and went into the closet, then they started malfuntioning. One night while everyone was asleep, I suddenly got woken up by Aaaaahhhhh!!! from my closet. I was pretty sure there was a monster living in there at the time so I was terrified. Then my dad came in and found it and turned it off. It stopped for a while but then it would go off again while it was off so I took a screwdriver to it one day and that was the end of that. I prefered to make my own toys though like bows and spears and stuff. It was like we were little cave men learning how to make tools, it was just fun and alot better than those screaming hunks of plastic.

 

[JohnL]

When I was a kid (which was not soooo long ago) I used to make wooden swords, bows, spears & fight my brothers. Then we got a bit older & made shelters in the woods, lit fires, & played with knives.

If I ever have kids, I am not going to let them have mountains of plastic junk. Lots of it breaks pretty quickly, & then goes to landfill where it will take hundreds of years to decompose.

 

[BOD]

...I'm also a firm believer that things like swords and shields ought to be made of wood, not soft foam plastic. I was roundly told off by a friend when I make them for my sons, because I was being cruel, they would hurt ! Silly woman never quite got it, they were meant to; if you hit your brother with something hard, he'll hit you back, hard, and it does hurt, don't do it ........could have stopped endless wars I thought.........then I discovered them making explosives and came to the conclusion that in the spirit of human invention they were just doing what came naturally, ( they'd done a beautiful job on the charcoal )
Toddy

Of course you should "impose a personal bias on your kids". Its called many things, morals, guidance, parenting, boundaries

Wow. There are still people with real values left.

My wife's colleagues think I am a Neanderthal for thinking like that and letting the kids light fires making spear throwers and wooden swords etc.

Come to think of it I probably am. Will be extinct soon.