Surplus of Toys

 

The importance of play has been identified as key to the early development of children's brains from 0 to age 4.  Play can strategically assist a child in an assortment of basic and advanced processing of information including physical equations, logical thought process and vital role interactions with others.

Play is commonly associated with toys, although not necessary, toys are aids in children's play so that instead of creating and designing a cardboard box as a playhouse - playhouses are designed, mass produced and recreated that have a solid history behind them.  I am a big fan of playhouses or doll houses, for me, they are a very elegant and elevated level of play; but it isn't necessary to use a dollhouse to get that same climatic feeling during play, as the imagination can provide any individual at any age a significant feeling that you want to encounter during playtime.

So why the abundance of toys and why are they consistently repeated over time? What does the general public desire the most when they want a truck ....but a different truck?  Are we a bored society that toys must be stocked locally at a gas station, and if so then what does it mean that toys have become such a cheap and disposable means of entertainment for our children?

I don't have a conclusion that an abundance of toys on our psyche is necessarily a negative one; but one could argue that it limits even handicaps the power of imagination and that acceptance of overage of toys empowers it as a vital cog in the wheel of consumerism.  We accept that when we walk into a store that we can be offered a robot in about 20 or more different varieties that will modernize its version repeatedly on perhaps a 6 to 12 month basis.  The previous versions are phased out and can become hard to find.

The toy culture has a prominent place in society globally and has matured into nostalgia and collector's items creating a new illustrious and viable contending industry.  Therefore the toy industry has become a force to be reckoned with.  There are no signs of slowing down or stop of over mass producing one toy item such as a baby doll or even Barbie dolls!

The psychology of toys is as substantial as the effects of television broadcasts comparable to the images that we are subjected too through play with mass produced toys. Children naturally seek a reflection of themselves in everything from family, to their economic disposition as this is one innate way a child finds a way to easily transition, connect and reflect as they play.

Although mass production creates a crazy amount of variety in toys it has become repetitive but in various forms - the one item mass produced does not apply to all children at play.

With this much influential toy culture has at such an early developing stage for children; what responsibilities should parents take when introducing toys?  Or is this a fabricated unfounded culture that is harmless and simple in its practice.