From the American Spectator, a reminiscence on the plague of toys in American households:
HOW DOES THIS PLAGUE of toys come to be? Through generosity, of course. You cannot invite grandparents or a favored uncle and aunt over and tell them, cuttingly, "Don't buy the kids any toys." Toys are part of the deal there. Adults love to buy toys. It takes them back --- no, actually, their own childhoods did not include experiences like buying toys or even receiving them very much. Buying presents today creates a nostalgia for what never really was, the most powerful nostalgia there is. Few parents can resist the impulse to buy toys, either. (I can, but I'm a grouch.)Some toys are undoubtedly superior to others. Lego's a good one. So is Play-Mobile. Both share the irritation of requiring tiny pieces by the hundreds. Remote control vehicles create cacophony for a day or two in our house, then lie forgotten. Car racing layouts do not charm for more than a week.
I have to admit I am madly nostalgic for paper dolls, but then I was completely obsessed with them until about the age of 14, and I had dozens of them. I designed all their clothes and spent hours drawing, coloring, cutting out. Perhaps my parent's generation did not actually receive many toys in their childhood, but my generation sure did. And I have heard parents my age request others not to buy toys for their offspring, on the grounds that "they already have so much." Sounds like they're trying to push the pendulum back the other way.
Posted by kswygert at March 15, 2005 12:17 PM