Why didn't they have these when I was 5? Hmm??
On the other hand, I had the original muppet show, new episodes of Mr. Rogers, the original Scooby Doo, and many other treats. Now the poor kids have dolls with abnormally large feet dressed inappropriately, cartoons where everyone has freakishly large eyes, and the pressure from their peers to get a cell phone when they are 7. They're totally missing out.
I know, I'm showing my age.
But seriously. When I was a little kid, I remember things being carefree. I remember the city I grew up in having lots of trees, and the main road that is now 6 lanes wide being 2, or maybe it was 4, lanes wide, and the traffic not being completely aggravating. I remember playing with the neighbor kids every day. I don't remember my friends being booked up every night of the week with soccer and dance and Camp Fire and karate and art classes. Not that I object to any of those things. But when I have parents tell me they are out every night of the week taxi-ing their kids around, I think, "are you serious?" I'm unsure when these kids are finding the time to learn how to participate in unstructured play. In the little free time they do have, they are hooked up to something electronic. Kids shouldn't be bored if they don't have an electronic device to entertain them. If they are, that's a red flag. Take the thing away from them. Send them outside.
Kids with the best imaginations are the ones that don't have ten million toys and gadgets to entertain them. They are the ones that make the stick into the sword, or the shoeboxes into the barbie mansion,, or the dirt into little rivers (with the aid of a shovel and the hose) or the sheet into the fort. Those are the things I look back on and treasure from my childhood, not the fancy cabbage patch kid that I probably begged and begged and begged for. Yes, she was special, because I only got one "real" one. But the dolls my mom made for me are the ones that I want to keep forever. The homemade blocks I had to play with are more memorable than many of the storebought toys I played with.
Certain family members might mock. Yes, I have always been a tv-aholic, and I spent alot of time in front of the tv as I grew. BUT, I also was an avid reader and spent hours in my room reading books. I also loved my bike, and rode it for hours and hours. I wrote stories that my sister mocked (not that I'm bitter), and I earned awards in church and Camp Fire as I grew older. I had plenty of down time, and I have fond memories of the calm and happiness my simple schedule allowed me. People seem to be under the delusion that giving your child everything you can think of is giving them the best childhood. But really, they're just going to end up with a feeling of entitlement and no imagination. And also no memories of just being a kid.
(As a side note I think adults are overbooking themselves too. Hi, kettle, I'm the pot.)
Put down the calendar and walk away slowly.
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