Comments on: Dumb

By: latenac

latenac — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 16:08:37 +0000

I have to agree with fabooj I can’t believe the parents the NY Times comes up with. I also thought the story was ridiculous in saying, “kids need the real thing they can spot a “toy” a mile away and don’t want it.” As the parent of a 4 year old I can tell you kids do still have imagination. Mine is even still happy with her toy camera that giggles when you press the button and has a mirror in the back of it. But then I live in a backwater and am very glad we no longer live in NYC. I’d hate to raise a kid that wouldn’t be happy with imagination.

By: fabooj

fabooj — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:47:13 +0000

I’m so getting that LeapPad…from someone as a gift. LOL…I need a keyboard and mouse for my kids and can’t find anything affordable for them. I found out recently that my 4 year is “behind” because she can’t use a keyboard or mouse. Isn’t that sad? I’m enrolling her into pre-K and they spend an hour a day on the computer and she’s expected to be able to already know a qwerty keyboard and use a mouse. Now, I’ve given her old keyboards to play with, but we don’t let the kids on the computer because we figured they’d get enough of that when they get older.

I will disagree with this statement:
“If you give kids an old toy camera, they look at you like you’re crazy,” said Reyne Rice, a toy trends specialist for the Toy Industry Association. Children “are role-playing what they see in society,” she added.

My kids have about 5 old cameras to play with 4 of them are film cameras and one is an ancient (1998) digital camera. They know film goes in the empty space. How? Because we explain old technology to them. Gasp…talking to your kids? I will admit that they’ll still look at the back of it to check the picture.

But really, reading that article, I’m convinced that the NYT is the only media outlet able to come up with crazyridiculousoverindulgent parents. An 8 year old does not need an adult laptop, especially just because she thinks it’s cool. The parent who returned the fake cellphones because her kids prefere the real ones? Insane. I’d return them and spend the money on a pedicure. For me.

@Silver Owl, I found this site via NaBloPoMo, you may want to check it out.

By: Silver Owl

Silver Owl — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:54:31 +0000

I’m having a tough time finding a toy for my 9 month old niece that won’t poison her. By the time she is 3 years old it will probably be safer for her to just look at or imagine toys. lol

By: donviti

donviti — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:49:40 +0000

whatever happened to fish tanks?

By: American Goose

American Goose — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:25:00 +0000

These toys are brought to you by the invisible hand that teaches our kids to be quiet, obedient little cogs in the capitalist machine. “Sit here and produce nothing, little one — pretend to feel important.”