I was reading an article at the weekend in the Guardian's Family section about how the number of toys our children have has increased so much over the years and how these toys take away the need for children to use their imaginations and create things for themselves.
This is something that we feel very strongly about, and I did have to smile when I came to the end of the article, which said "bin the bits of broken plastic and leave out just a few of the classic favourites, such as trains, books, cars , Lego and simple dolls that make children do all the creative work".... I then looked around the room and saw EXACTLY those toys. OK, in rather great abundance, but the favourite things in this house are definitely Thomas the Tank Engine on his wooden track (it's worth knowing that it fits fine on Brio and similar immitation tracks, so you don't have to buy the plastic sets. Just remember the rechargeable batteries) and going through tunnels made with
Duplo plus lots of books, including some of my old Mr Men ones....
As a kid I remember my favourites were just the same - books, paper, pens and Lego, and I certainly didn't suffer for it. I'd make models, and "creations", build houses (I wanted to be an architect - even did my first degree) and have complete worlds of my own. A lot of the contents of the kitchen cupboards would end up with my toys - the pots and pans, plastic tubs, sieves and baking trays, plus empty cardboard boxes and drinking straws. I used to have great fun. That's what childhood is about, and it's all developing great skills for later in life, especially troubleshooting!
I can't wait for our son to be a bit older so that we can start model making things that have moving parts and represent something "real". At the moment they're just "creations", so most of the empty boxes go to nursery (it's the old reduce... reuse... recycle again!)
What were your favourite toys - are they still around?
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It's true, more and more children spend less time with books. You only have to look at children's books to see evidence of this - if books have to contain magnets and jigsaws to maintain their interest then something isn't right. Children have too much spoon fed to them with electronic toys, television and videos. As parents i can see how it is easy to fall into the trap of relying upon television or electronic toys, but in the long run everyone gains so much more out of quality time with traditional toys and books. Thankfully our son LOVES his books.... in fact too much so sometimes as even at not quite 3 we can't get him to bed for reading!
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