Child's Play - Or Is It?

It May Be Time to Take Another Look
at Your Children's Toys

by Victor Kubik

Teddy Bear

"YANK OUT ALIEN ORGANS dripping in glowing ALIEN BLOOD." This invitation greets children 7 and over from the box of a toy called "Dissect-an-Alien." It's part of the popular Mad Scientist line of toys made by one of America's largest toy manufacturers.

Several years back USA Today announced a summer of gross toys coming to market: "Make way for the gag toys of summer designed to make you, well, gag. Barfing, spewing toys of retched excess are coming at you. Literally. Be sure to duck." The article continues: "'Kids love the shock of seeing their friends, parents and teachers cringe,' says toy consultant Mark Chernick, Fantasy Productions, Seattle. Ertl's Blurp Balls are among the hot in-your-face geegaws. The $7 two-piece squeeze toys--motto: 'They retch it, you catch it'--feature a vampire heaving up a human heart, a shark ejecting a skull and a tomcat upchucking a rat."

I guess some toys simply aren't what they used to be.

Have you thought about some of the toys your children are playing with lately? How are some of the new types of playthings affecting them?

Toy manufacturing and marketing has become a multi-billion dollar a year business. Manufacturers constantly try to create and follow new trends. Electronics and vivid graphics have added a new dimension to our children's toys. Do these technical advances really help our children develop? And have fun?

When most of us reminisce about our childhood, we cannot help but think about our play with siblings, friends, pets and toys. I smile inside when I think about the days when I hiked to a nearby waterfall in the woods with my dog. Or played catch with my brother Oleh. On wintry Sunday afternoons I remember playing chess for hours with Dad. Whether we had many or few toys, we do remember the favorite teddy bears, dolls, play cars or construction sets we once played with.


Through toys children experiment, explore, express and discover themselves.

Through toys children experiment, explore, express and discover themselves. They give the toy life, character, abilities and talents. With their imagination they project themselves into it. Through make-believe children build a bridge with adulthood and look forward to growing up.

PLAY IS IMPORTANT for a child's development. This is one way children learn about the world around them. How children relate to and play with toys helps them acquire skills such as dexterity.

Flop Fellow Playing with other children helps children with social development. They learn how to get along with, tolerate and share with one another. By interacting with others they learn how to solve problems.

The very first toys could well have been natural objects such as sticks, fir cones, seed pods, bones and smooth round stones. Dolls, balls, tops and pull toys have become the basic toys of many cultures.

When visiting a toy store in the former Soviet Union I was fascinated to see how universally boys and girls are attracted to animal shapes, puppets, dolls, miniature cars, trucks and tractors.

At ancient burial sites animal figures have been found that seem to have been intended for use only in play. For example, wheeled pull or push toys carved in the shapes of animals date from Persia of the 12th century BC. Clues to the nature of many old toys have been found on ancient vases and reliefs, which often picture hobbyhorses, carts, hoops, balls, tops and musical instruments.

Almost all toys were handcrafted until late in the 18th century after which mass-produced toys began to appear for the first time.

Toy Store The last decade has brought on entirely different kinds of toys. The craze with electronic games reflects advances in science and technology. Now there are electronic toys that interact with television programs through inaudible signals. The longevity of games and toys is decreasing with the constantly changing styles and heroes.

While there are plenty of good toys that bring out the best in our children, there are a few alarming trends and changes that we as parents should beware of.

Violence, Occult, Grossness

TOY MAKERS HAVE FOUND characters such as GI Joe (a perennial best-seller) or characters from the current space-war/adventure movies to be the hottest-selling items. Guns shooting lasers and fake bullets are exceptionally popular and sales of these toy weapons has skyrocketed in recent years.

Disturbing toys like "The Blaster" offer a casual way to blow up the world. It has push buttons and a handgrip with vast firepower. It is a toy that is advertised to help you relieve tension: "Leave in your wake a flood of totally imaginary destruction and feel good about yourself once again." The Blaster simulates machine gun fire, laser beams and nuclear explosions.

Is this the way to release tensions? What kind of a message does this send to its user? Are we doing anything more than teaching barbarism with toys like this?


…the impact of playing with toy guns and war toys increases minor antisocial behavior like hitting, kicking, hair-pulling and teasing

Studies have shown that the impact of playing with toy guns and war toys increases minor antisocial behavior like hitting, kicking, hair-pulling and teasing.

War toys can desensitize children toward violence, cause exaggerated fear of others and increase tendencies toward angry and violent behavior. Children may become more hyper, fight more and become harder to get along with when they play with war toys.

By buying them war toys, we tell them that it's all right to fight and solve problems violently. If we give impressionable children toys that imply that war or hostility are acceptable, then we send them the message that it's all right to act out feelings using weapons. War toys do not teach cooperation or love.

The prophet Isaiah speaks about a future time when man will no longer learn war and violence: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore" (Isaiah 2:4, New King James Version used throughout).

THE HUGE INCREASE of electronic games also assaults our children with violence. The National Coalition on Television Violence studied 95 Nintendo video games and found that 83% feature violent themes; 58% are war games. Children ages 8 through 10 are 80% more likely to fight among themselves after playing with interactive laser weapons.

In addition video games can be stress-producing, inherently frustrating and promote obsessive, even addictive, behavior. They also tend to shut people out and do not promote socializing. Children have been found screaming at a video game because it won't do what they want it to. They may throw the controls in rage or yell at people who come into the room and break their concentration. Even when playing with a friend gamers may yell at each other for doing something dumb.

A mother commented that the family video game turned her two children, ages 10 and 8, into "animals." The 10 year old "can't stop playing once he starts." The 8 year old gets frustrated, hostile, angry and violent when he plays. They fight and argue with friends over Nintendo.

Whisper Along with violent toys, watch out for toys that experiment with the occult. And there are plenty of them available. I strolled down the aisle of the largest toy store chain close to home. Piled high in one section were Ouija boards and other games dabbling with the occult. One particularly distressing game was "Nightmare on Elm Street--The Freddie Game," based on a movie about a man who murders teenagers. In this game he is depicted wearing a glove with razor blades for slashing his victims. How can anyone wish for their children to amuse themselves with anything like this? Is there anything redeeming here? Such games only encourage children to come close to the mysterious world of fear, ugliness and death.

Repulsive toys have become popular. One particular one called the "Brain Blaster" has a head come apart with the brain falling out in pieces. One called "Drool" is a hand puppet that lives up to its name. Another is called "Airsickness" which depicts an airline passenger strapped in a seat with a sick look on his face.

Toys in the Mad Scientist series include one called the "Monster Lab Set." It bids you to "make disgusting, gross monsters… then sizzle the flesh off their bones." On the box a group of young boys dips a creature in a frothing vat of pretend acid. How about the "Glowing Glop Kit?" The advertising tells youngsters, "Squeeze 'em! Alien Blood oozes from their eyes."

The gross toy boom prompted a popular brand of children's candy that looks like spiders and rats.

Some adults are concerned with trends toward grossness in lines of toys such as the Garbage Pail kids because the ugliness desensitizes children gradually till they are no longer offended by violence, sadism and the grotesque.

Speaking in the context of children, Christ warned those who would take advantage of the impressionable and defenseless: "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18:6).

The president of Child World which owns Children's Palace, the second largest toy store chain, stated that "such toys are selling quite well. They seem to be part of what we see as a larger trend aimed at little boys for gross kinds of stuff."

The Toy Manufacturers Association sees no harm in such toys. "When it comes to grossness, we firmly believe that the decision to buy the toys should be made by the parents."

Good advice, parents! They couldn't have said it any better.

You Buy the Toys


Children's television programming is often no more than one big advertisement for toys.

AS PARENTS we should closely monitor and evaluate what kinds of toys our children play with. We should make it clear to our children that we as parents will help choose the toys they play with.

How is it that children are so knowledgeable and lust for certain kinds of toys? Children's television programming is often no more than one big advertisement for toys. Your children are a very lucrative market.

In one year the average 4 to 8 year old will see 1,000 30-second and 180 30-minute cartoon commercials selling war toys--the equivalent of 18 days of classroom instruction in exciting pro-war entertainment. Advertising like this is effective: war toy sales increased 700% in a period of five years from 1982 to 1987.

Don't let yourself be forced into feeling guilty if you don't get your children the particular toys they are influenced to want.

Don't allow children to go crazy for every toy with a certain hero's picture on it. Monitor what your children watch and take control of what toys you buy. Your children shouldn't be victimized by toy manufacturers with sick minds. Toy companies often speak about the developmental qualities of toys, yet they are first to deny charges that certain toys help breed any misbehavior.

What's Good

IN THE MIDST of the commercialism and chaos, you can make many good choices by considering the impact of toys before buying them. They need not be expensive.

For example, a toy as simple as a yo-yo will teach children lessons about objects in motion that they will remember into their high school years when they take physics classes. They are already learning principles of inertia, friction and gravity.


There are many creative, peaceful toys that will stretch your children's imaginations while giving them hours of fun.

Question the value of toys your children ask for. How will they benefit from a particular toy? Will their imagination be directed toward wholesomeness? What will they learn? Will it help them solve problems? Will it help them use their minds? Does the toy help them interact with others? Will it help them refine their skills or explore and discover things about themselves and the world around them? There are many creative, peaceful toys that will stretch your children's imaginations while giving them hours of fun.

Construction sets such as the classic tinker toys, Legos, Lincoln logs or erector sets are always excellent choices. They help a child imagine a structure in the minds' eye, then build it. Chemistry or electronic kits are also good picks that allow you to guide children in learning about physical things around them.

Wooden Toy Train Plan for some of the toys to be used by the whole family, allowing parents and children to come together and talk. The problem with many electronic games is that the children get off in their own little world and tune out others. Parents are then repulsed by the games' sounds and may not have the faintest idea of how to play it. If children play too much with electronic games, they can tend to get bored and not care whether they develop relationships with others.

Sports toys such as balls and skates are wholesome. Many parlor games are good for discussion. Games like Pictionary teach children to follow rules, take turns, learn new words and communicate with symbols. The toy industry also has made toys so complicated that they drop dead when the batteries run down. Batteries can be racket in themselves. Simple toys like a ball should be a child's first toy.

As an alternative to the glitzy commercialized toy supermarkets, try the toy departments of science museums and out-of-the-way places near college campuses.

Hobby stores are a good source of toys, too. Here there are toys that force parents to spend time with their children. There is a whole different world of toys in those stores which develop imagination and creativity.

The Play's the Thing

WHAT CHILDREN REALLY WANT to do is to play. Toys are just the vehicle for play. In our busy society we often abdicate our responsibilities as parents by using toys as a crutch to entertain our children as we go off and do something else. What children really want most is for their parents and friends to interact with them through play that can be fun, educational and can build bonds in your family.

Make your children's precious young years a pleasant experience they will always treasure. In the future world there will be the right kind of play with the right kind of toys: "The streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets" (Zechariah 8:5).


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