Old Toys VS New Toys

When I was a kid, you could give me a brick and a piece of blue lint I'd be happy for a month. Gimme some red lint and I'd be too hyper to sleep for week. Nowdays though, kids want everything. They want it shiny, flashing, sugary and they want it now. Give a modern child a toy truck and he'll want to know where the controller is. Toys are apparently not fun unless they are made in China and need batteries.

"So what?" I hear you say. Maybe we had to use our imagination a bit more when we were kids to have fun. Maybe we played with the kid next door a bit more. Is it all really that bad that kids nowdays spend more time strapped to screens? Well, according social researchers, child psychologists and childcare experts it probably is.

The thing is, you need play at a young age to develop your imagination, learn social skills and problem solving skills. The common childhood game of Doctor or Monopoly doesn't just need to be seen as fun, but as a chance for necessary life-skills to be developed at an early stage. Just because it may be fun for the children involved doesn't mean it's not important, as play seems to be a much better teacher than most people think.

As a side note, if you're nearing your thirties and still spending hundreds of dollars on Star Wars Lego every year, then this isn't a justification.

References & links...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1562673/Modern-life-is-destroying-childrens-play.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1497905/Too-much-learning-and-not-enough-play-stunts-childrens-development.html
http://www.learningchild.com.au/ccd/play

The Way Kids Play

When I was a child loved Lego. We had a huge box of it with everything from pirates, police, space and lame girly ones with animal heads. I didn't like them. Even the one with the alligator head man looked sissy. I would spend hours making stuff, building up an imaginary world void of proper gravity and serious injury. It was fun and I'd do it without anyone telling me to. In fact, if I was in trouble one of the first things I wasn't allowed to do was play. It was pretty pointless sending me to my room. 

Probably didn't know it at the time (in fact, I didn't at all) I was learning some of the most important lessons of my life. Dexterity skills, co-ordination, colour basics, organisational skills, lay-out skills and what to do with those annoying thin flat pieces. Lego is the Master Yoda of childhood education. Why? Because playing is the best way to learning. Most people know this, but for some reason it's only acceptable for children to lear this way. I mean, I don't remember learning how to speak English. Some would argue I still don't, but I'm not bad and I learnt it somehow. So if there ever was a time in my life to thank a bunch of plastic blocks sitting in a cupboard somewhere, now would be the time. Thanks for the memories Lego, except for you alligator head man.