My grand daughter (D) is obsessed with surprise toys. It began with the little Princess bags sold
at the register in stores like Target. The customer never knew what
small figurine was inside the bag when they bought it. D has moved on to
collectible dolls all packaged exactly alike so that the child is
"surprised" to see which doll her parents bought her. The Princess bags
were somewhat affordable, - $3 or $4 a pop. The dolls run closer to $10 a
pop. Is this why her parents work so hard?
I
see the appeal. It's a little like scratch off lottery tickets. Maybe
this time, I'll get that special Dancing Cutie doll. Maybe this time,
I'll win big. At least, the children still get a toy to keep.
Trading
cards had the same allure. This pack might have the rare picture of
Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Further back, kids collected in hopes
of getting the card for their favorite sports player. Some cards have
risen in value. Why? Because some kids never grow up, I think. They
still hope to live, or find value, through their things.
What
happens when a child's friends aren't lucky enough to own as many
expensive toys? What happens when a child can't enjoy the fizz of
anticipation because her parents work hard but don't make as much money
as other parents? How do we protect little humans from equating owning
things to happiness or worth?
Dan,
(youngest brother and partner in crime), brainstormed a little bit last
week. His son, J, collects a lot of trading chips of Manga and Anime
characters. That's what is hot in Japan in the elementary school
group. Action figures and their vehicles and gadgets are what young
boys collect. They aren't cheap either.
What
if, we asked, we packaged card decks that let kids make their own fun?
Each deck would contain cards with crafts or experiments or games that
kids could play, make or do at home. Each deck would also have a
heavier card that could be turned into a character or a toy. A website
would give points to each heavy card. That's as far as we got. Could
the children collect points and win...what? What? It seems like a puny
offering to counter sparkly dolls in carefully designed and crafted
"surprise" packages. Sigh.
In
the meantime, parents work at jobs that they often dislike just so
they can afford a "nice" house, a "good" car, and toys that clutter up
that nice house and good car.
And other parents have to say "no" to their children because those parents make just enough to pay the rent or buy groceries.
No comments:
Post a Comment