Do you know of any parents who have decided to raise their children without toys? This doesnt mean that the children would not play, just that they would play with other things around the house. Objectives might be to make their children less materialistic and possessive, and/or to make them more creative.
We were raised with minimal toys for that reason, so my Dad said. It is amazing how many games you can make up when all you have is a ball. And honestly, we had a forest with a cave in our back yard. An abandoned 'wild west dance hall' next door and a rodeo arena down the road. My cousins had every toy you could imagine. I don't think they ever played outside. We were jealous, but the same toy that did the same thing over and over got old after a while. All except those legos and spirograph. I would have killed for those.
I was raised without toys. I mean, I had a few, but I usually played soccer or something instead of with toys.
I had some toys but not many. I played a lot of sports. My only real complaint was I didn't have a nice bike, I'm not sure if that counts as a toy, but its a nessessary for kids to bike. bike = freedom to a 10 year old
As a kid I didn't have that many toys. Well not anything like my kids do, especially not the expensive toys they have today like Nintendo DS, Xbox, Playstation...etc. I spent most of the time outside. I rode my bike a lot. I had those old style roller skates with 4 wheels. My friend and I used to sit on the driveway and play something called 5 rocks. I think it is similar to jacks. I used to skip rope, fly my kite, play tag, hide and go seek all that stuff. I used to take my baseball bat over to the park and we would play 500 up. I played a lot of sports and was a bit of a tom boy back then. I also had a lot of chores to do around the house, so it wasn't just fun and games all the time.
I had very few "toys". We could not afford them (at least that's what my father said, after he got back from buying rounds for all his friends at the barPlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image!). I would spend hours on end playing with sticks and rocks. I'd take apart broken old junk I'd find in teh garbage and make new things out of them. I once found a beat up old tennis racket. I used that old racket to hit rocks onto the roof of the factory across the street from my house for hours on end. I greatly appreciate growing up that way. Nothing fosters creativity and curiosity like having to make and find your own "toys".
Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! That's funny because I used to do the same thing. Instead I hit the rocks onto the roof of the highschool we lived across from. I also used to watch my brother do some weird stuff. We had a big woodpile in the backyard, some pretty huge spiders lived in it. He would catch flies and throw them in the web and we would watch the big spiders come out and wrap them up. I also used to put caterpillars in jars with leaves and stuff.
I'd put fireflies (llightening bugs) in jars with leaves and watch them in my room until I fell asleep. Inevitably a few would get loose and my mother would be upset when she saw them flying around the house. I pity kids who have all their creativity and adventure ripped away from them by spending all their time in the house playing video games and otherwise having other people define their play for them.
I remember in my neighborhood long ago there was just me and a boy, and we'd spend all day outside walking around and doing random shit, playing sports, etc; however we also looked for spiders, etc Most kids today it seems are indoors-type, I was more of an outdoors type
I too was raised without a lot of toys. My parents could not afford to give me a lot of toys when I was little. I had a few and the few that I got for Christmas and my birthdays were cherished and still are. My kids still play with them today. And if they manage to do the distance, hopefully one day their children, if they have any, will also play with them. What toys I had, I made up games to play, along with a few choice items I could use from the house... I remember spending hours at a time with marbles and little boxes (match boxes and other small boxes painted by me to represent houses and cars) and each marble was named, little beads were the children... I'd build up a whole town with marbles and beads with a scrunched up blanket on my bed, using the little boxes as either houses or their cars.. or I'd do the same in the garden. My love, as a child, was books and my parents did all they could to make sure I had a steady supply of them as I grew up. My children have a lot of toys compared to what I had at their age. But I've noticed they too like to design and imagine their own games, so much so that half of their toys are never touched... My eldest spends hours with large pieces of paper, having us draw roads and shops, etc, for his cars to drive to, with boxes stuck on it to represent buildings. He has proper toy roads for his cars, with little buildings and garages and such, but he won't play with them, preferring to imagine what he wants on his roads and having us either draw them with him or build them... To say the craft corner in the toy room is always occupied, would be an understatement. And we encourage it. So now for his birthday and Christmas, we give him craft toys... stencils are the current favourite and he has an absolute ball creating what he wants to play with. Or they'll go out into the yard, find a stick and steal a towel or a sheet from the linen cupboard and build a tent or a house.. kids have fantastic imaginations and I think smothering them with all sorts of toys can stifle that. Thankfully, like my husband and myself, both our boys seem to love books.. so that they get quite a bit of. But toys?.. More than what I have, but much less than what other children their age have these days. They just seem to have more fun making up their own games. We haven't given them video games, even those designed for their age bracket. I'd rather they have fun creating something or imagining different games then being planted in front of a TV or computer to play. They go to their cousin's house, where electronic toys, video games and computer games are constantly in use and they don't seem interested in any of it...
My borther made a rule for my two nephews when they were about 9. Between the hours of 8 AM and 8 PM, they had to be outside in the summer. You can come in to pee and during mealtimes, and that's it. Video games were limited to one hour a week (though he'd give a little leeway on rainy days) and TV, I think was 1 hour a day. Go outside and play! I thought it was fantastic.
I did something similar to entertain my mice...and myself. I'd get a bunch of shoe boxes and cut holes for doors and windows, and then stack em up, Tower of Babel style. At the top I'd put some peanut butter, and when the rodents got a whiff of that it would be a mad race to the top through this maze of boxes. All by sense of smell of course.
So do I. My kids have their city life and then there "redneck" country life at the cottage. They have been up there for most of the summer. The cottage is right on the lake so they go fishing, swimming, catch frogs, snakes whatever. My oldest one is pretty good on a dirt bike. He started riding when he was 6 (now 12) My youngest one 7 just got his old dirtbike and started this yr. They have a ball riding around up there. My oldest chops wood, and does work around there too. They have BB guns and a bow and arrow too. They built a treehouse in the woods and fool around up there too. They spend almost their whole day outside then usually have a big bon fire at night. There is no computer, video game consoles or cable tv up there. I think it's great because they are much more well rounded then their friends who don't do any of those things. In the city they ride their bikes, play sports, skateboard, play computer and video games. They spend a lot of time outside. They usually only get into the games when it's dark out or shitty weather. I wouldn't want them growing up knowing nothing more then how to master computer/ console games. I think as parents though, it is their responsibility to make sure that doesn't happen. If the kid is just sitting there hr after hr on beautiful summer days they need to shut it down. My neighbor has to do that sometimes with her son. She needs to tell him to get off the computer and go for a bike ride or rollerblade or something outside.
It seems like there is a lot of hostility towards video games in regards to the older generations. How come, exactly?
I think there are some answers to that question already posted here in this thread. By the way, I'm oly 36 and most of my friends played video games growing up.
Honestly I do have some towards it. I guess it may also have something to do with me not being interested in that sort of thing. I personally think it's a waste of time to sit there and play hr after hr after hr. I am more a hands on person and like to get up and do things. I find that when they are playing they tune everything else out. You can't even seem to talk to them because it is never a good time. They are always in the middle of some "battle" or life and death situation. I think it is ok as a hobby but a lot of ppl take it well past that and go overboard. If that is all you do and have no other interests or hobbies I think that is a bad thing. I don't want my kids growing up like that. I don't want them being teens and young men who don't know how to do anything because they spent their life just sitting around gaming 3/4 of the time.
Give it time. Mine weren't interested in it at your kids ages either. It will be coming, especially when they start getting older start school and want to be doing what their friends are. If they have a lot of varied interests though, I think it will be ok. I have never had to kick my oldest (12) off the computer to go ride his bike or skateboard. He does that all on his own. The only problem I have with my 2 boys is reading. The oldest one can not stand reading. He is in grade 7 this yr and has no choice. It is always a constant struggle for me. They both have tons of books. I get lots for them cheap at garage sales. Even if it is something I know interests them, when it comes to sitting down and reading there is just no interest. The teachers keep telling me it is definately a boy thing and they hear the same thing from other parents all the time.
