Toys Deemed Bad For Children
Usually it’s TV that’s villified for stunting children’s growth while educational toys abound for stimulating kids’ intellect. The country of Austria, however, seems to think that toys are just as evil as TV.
All Headline News (June 22, 2005) reports that Austria has decided to remove toys from kindergartens in an attempt to prevent them from becoming addicted to teddy bears, trains, and blocks.
Renate Brauner states, “The campaign was to prevent children from becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol in adulthood by developing their social competence. Pilot tests have shown that taking away children’s toys encourages them to think more about how to entertain themselves. They become more social and even those on the outside of the group find a positive role.”
The Austrian government would probably tell me that all the time I’ve been spending this week organizing my son’s toys has been wasted. I should have been busy tossing them in the garbage bin instead.
What nonsense. I am forever impressed by my son’s creativity and imagination in combining his various toy pieces to invent new ones. He has fashioned vacuums out of plastic golf club sticks to which he attached building blocks for the head, a rubberband rope for the hose, and a toy car for the motor. He makes spaceships out of Legos and flies them into a tunnel fashioned by a folded child tent propped up against the back of the sofa.
A child has the right to have some toys even if it’s just one or two. Does anyone want to organize a toy drive for Austria?
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9 opinions for Toys Deemed Bad For Children
Bayou_Boy504
Jun 23, 2005 at 9:02 pm
Just let me know where to mail the toys to, and I’ll starting mailing some of mine off to them!
What a crasy idea…
Lei
Jun 23, 2005 at 9:08 pm
Thanks for the comment, Bayou_Boy504! Sounds like you have more than a few extra toys to play with. ;)
Qadira
Jun 24, 2005 at 8:50 am
This actually sounds interesting. I’ll be curious about how things go for these kids as they get older. Frankly, I had the most fun as a kid when all the kids ran about coming up with variants of hide-n-seek or tag and everyone played together, than I did when we were all dumped in a room full of toys.
They’re not banning kids in Austria from having toys. They’re just removing them from a school environment in order to encourage Social Interaction. Being creative with your own toys and making up lots of games in your own house, is not the same thing. And I think you know that, and just wanted to be provacative ;)
Lei
Jun 24, 2005 at 9:13 am
As usual, Qadira, you’ve caught me at twisting the truth a little. Maybe you’re right. In a school environment where there should be teachers there to introduce ideas and guide play, toys may not be as necessary and may perhaps hinder. Although I’m not all that convinced.
Qadira
Jun 24, 2005 at 11:11 am
I guess it all depends on the purpose of the school- the article doesn’t say how old these kids are, and if they’re learning classroom type things or just being in daycare. I know most preschools incorporate toys and playtime into their schedule and many activities. My son’s kindergarten room had a puppet theater and all sorts of toys; 1st grade had a play corner; by 2nd grade toys are mostly phased out and replaced by a reading corner that perhaps has math manipulatives and board games.
I find inadequate articles to be highly frustrating. Maybe a lot of people are satisfied with the little info-bytes, but my curiosity wants to know More. LOL!!! (not enough this morning to google it though hehe)
Lei
Jun 24, 2005 at 11:17 am
Qadira, I read in this article (http://www.ananova.com/news...) that the toy ban will affect kindergarteners.
Stef
Jul 3, 2005 at 6:16 am
that is totally ridiculous. adults are allowed "toys" but kids shouldn’t be??? although, there is truth in that too many toys may actually kill creativity — kids that don’t have a lot of pre-made things will use their own imagination to come up with fun stuff — just think boxes turned into castles, forts, etc. and i am not too fond of anything electronic for kids, but really! what’s the use of being a kid if you aren’t allowed to play with toys? who did the research for these people???
Lei
Jul 3, 2005 at 7:04 am
Stef, I totally agree with you! From my personal observations, kids have a very active imagination no matter what’s in their environment. Even kids with lots of toys (like my son) find fun in ordinary household objects.
sarah
Apr 22, 2006 at 5:15 pm
It sounds like Chitty chitty Bang Bang all over again!
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