Parenting, Inc.

A great interview with the author of a book I may have to add to my pile – Parenting Inc. by Pamela Paul. A couple of choice quotes:

When you think back to the ’60s and ’70s, all the right-thinking progressive parents thought toys should be natural and open-ended. Crayola and Kinder Blocks and Lego were considered raise-your-kid-smart toys. Then, all this data that came out which said that kids need to be stimulated. They need sound! They need multi-sensory experiences! Now, the more bells and whistles a toy has, the supposedly better it is.

Our parents’ generation actually had it right. The less the toy does, the better. Everyone thinks: “Toys need to be interactive.” No, toys don’t need to be interactive. Children need to interact with toys. The best toys are 90 percent kid, 10 percent toy, the kind of thing that you can use 20 different ways, not because it has 20 different buttons to press, but because the kid, when they’re 6 months old is going to chew on it, and toss it, but when they’re a year they’re going to start stacking it.

This is something we’ve noticed with Damien. The best toys are the ones that are similar we used to have as a kid – a simple wood puzzle with 3 pieces, the 5 rings of different color/size and a stuffed animal of some sort.

Oh, and a giant TV with an XBox of course. That helps to keep ‘em in line and entertained. He especially loves playing Halo 3 online and talking trash.

At the most basic level reuse, recycle, repurpose. The average American child gets 70 new toys a year. That is just so far beyond what is necessary. Most child gear, toys, books are a lot cheaper, relatively speaking, than they were decades ago. In the aggregate it ends up being a lot more expensive, because we’re buying a lot more of it, but kids just don’t need that many toys. Kids lose out when things become less special.

Via kottke.org