Due to an unexpected shipping delay, I took a trip to the local Toys "R" Us to pick up a replacement present for a child relative. I was struck by two things:
1) Too many dolls look like whores.
2) The prevalance of electronics in today's toys is ridiculous.
Number one is pretty self-explanatory, and there's no polite way to put it: too many dolls look like whores. I don't know why there is such a demand for whore dolls, but there obviously is or there wouldn't be so many companies investing capital in making them. That the demand exists is sad and unfortunate.
As for number two, allow me to explain.
Say you have a dinosaur figure. That is fun. If I am a child, I can make him roar or talk and come up with all sorts of adventures for him to have. Perhaps I'll have him devour a Barbie or stomp a city or be best friends with G.I. Joe or hunt My Little Ponies or pursue tough stories as a reporter in New York. Who knows?
Now take the same toy, but outfit it with oodles of electronics. Press a button, he roars. Hit a switch, his tail swishes. Place him on his special, activating podium and his eyes light up, his arms move, and he leaps forward. Pretty cool, huh? Now I'll likely make him roar, swish his tail, and put him on his activating podium.
But that's likely just about all I'll make him do. He is now defined by his electronics. He doesn't do
anything, he does
these things. He roars like
this. He fights with his tail like
this. When he really gets excited he does
this. He's not open-ended anymore. I've essentially cut off certain avenues of imagination and replaced them with passive entertainment. "Look! I can make him fly like this," is replaced with "Look! Listen to him roar!" (For evidence of this, watch a child play with the second sort of toy. If it makes a noise, you're likely to see the child just activating the noise over and over and over and over without engaging in much imaginative play at all.) If our second dinosaur has adventures, they are likely to be constrained to those utilizing his special electronic capabilities, such as repeatedly setting up army men in the path of his swishing tail or leaping feet.
The electronic dinosaur, though he likely has more superficial shelf appeal, is not a better toy, he's worse and encourages laziness of imagination.
That's not to say that I think all electronics in toys are bad.
This toy utilizes electronics well. The electronics are integral to its purposes, namely exposing the child to music and allowing the child to interact with the music by adding and removing instruments. These purposes would be tough to accomplish without electronics. My beef is with the needless, extraneous electronics that dominate toy store shelves.
Bossy electronic toys are also a problem. Take this
new Sit and Spin for example. Remember the old Sit and Spin? That was a great toy. I had a blue one, and I thought it was awesome. The old Sit and Spin didn't talk or make music, you just sat on it and propelled yourself into dizziness.
The new Sit and Spin barks directions. Spin this way. Spin faster. Spin slower. Why? Do children, who are constantly told what to do, not have enough opportunities to learn how to listen and follow directions? Would we even want to see them following orders issued by their toys? Of course, you can turn the new Sit and Spin to music mode where the "Music accelerates as the ride spins around!" Is sitting and spinning not entertaining enough on its own? Must we now drive the child to distraction with loud, passive, pointless noise?
Passivity is not a virtue. Why then do we buy things for children that do so much to instill passivity in them?
