To think children have far too many toys nowadays

[atthewelles]

Remember the days when your toys all fitted into a drawer instead of requiring an entire playroom, all to themselves? And you played with most of them everyday and loved them to bits and thought they all had personalities, even the toy cars? And how imaginative you had to be because a lot of things had to double up as something else eg your doll's cot became a cage when you were playing 'Zoos', or the bucket from your bucket and spade set became a soldier's hat when you were playing 'Wars'.
Nowadays playrooms are stacked high with toys that kids play with a couple of times and throw in a corner and that break if you look at them; and everything has a switch that makes it move and talk and flash lights at you; and Barbie doesn't need you to make her a wedding dress and veil out of tissue paper because you can buy wedding Barbie (and ice skating Barbie and gymnast Barbie and nurse Barbie and.....).

AIBU to think that children would be better off with a few well loved and worn toys and left to use their imagination a bit more when it comes to maximising the fun they get from using these toys, than having everything handed to them cheap, shiny, plastic and no imagination required?

I don't see the problem here. Either they have loads of toys which are not played with, so you can get rid of them. Or they have loads which are played with, so no problem there.

And making a dress for a Barbie is a craft skill, nice to learn but neccessarily to do with imaginative play.

Sovery - that is one of my defences, lol - mine are HE so I they get more toys...

I remember when Dd started school, it just seemed so...pointless that she had so many cool toys and resources at home that she hardy used.

My parents think our DSs have tonnes of stuff but I keep telling them that compared to the majority of their friends they have surprisingly little.
It's DS1 birthday at the end of the month and when people have asked what to get him I've said clothes or vouchers for swimming etc because he had so much at Christmas he really doesn't need anything else to play with. He's going to be 2 & is happy to play trains, zoos or tea parties and do puzzles or do arty crafty things every day.
I feel a tiny bit mean saying no toys please but seriously, how much do our DC really need?

Boredom leads to creativity. And being creative, for many people, brings far more happiness than owning x boxes and ipads and other electronic/plastic toys. If I had children I wouldn't restrict how many toys I'd give but I would try and buy things which specifically spark creativity rather than just serve up entertainment on a plate. [Quote]

I agree with this. Obviously some children are innately creative and imaginative and this will come to the fore whatever their circumstances. But a lot of children do need to have their imagination encouraged and developed and a lot of the toys around nowadays don't really seem to do that but, as you rightly say, just serve up the entertainment all ready made and requiring little input from the child.

Brilla You're playroom sounds gorgeous, like the ones I used to imagine when reading Enid Blyton

Your playroom (before the grammar police come after me)

Boredom does not lead to creativity - I get so cross reading this ridiculous assertion time and again on MN.

Well the reason I think it does is because you have to think of something to do to amuse yourself. If you always have entertainment laid on you don't really learn to draw on your own resources. eg a child constantly watching television is probably less likely to go off and put on a play with her friends or pick up a book and read it than a child whose mum switches off the television and tells her child to do something else.

There's a brilliant article by Scott Adams - the creator of 'Dilbert' - in the Wall Street Journal who agrees with experts who claim that boredom leads to creativity and explains, very humorously, why he concurs with them.

I don't know how to do links but if you google it, I think it sums up what some of us on here are trying to get across.

I think MNetters who can't do links, especially as there are instructions all over the place, need to get off MN rather than waste all of our times quoting things they can't link to.

That statement is as fucking stupid as the one you opened this whole thread with.

The only thing boredom leads to around here is whining. He's creative enough even with his playroom and 1,000,000 toys. In fact, just today, Mater is on Noah's Ark rescuing the animals from a storm.

But, of course, having so many toys is stunting his imagination and creativity.

Obviously.

"Boredom" is not the opposite of "entertainment".

My kids have far too many toys. MIL goes on and on about how my children have more toys than hers ever had blah blah blah except I can count on one hand the amount of toys i have bought because she is the one who buys them all! And don't get me started on FIL the king of buying expensive wooden fire stations and garages that are too big to fit under beds or anywhere else so just sit there in the middle of the bedroom.

But how can playing with Barbie dolls not lead to imaginative play?

Do you have any daughters, atthewelle? Have you ever listened to a bunch of 4yos playing with Barbies? They are brilliant toys for fostering the imagination.

I don't see how you can mention plastic toys as they were somehow the same as iPads and xBoxes. Plastic toys are things like dolls and playmobil and lego- they are all about what you choose to do with your imagination. You get exactly the same kind of play as you get with a stick and some fir cones shaped to look like a person.

DD & DS3 do creative things if bored, they are introverts, easy for them. DS1 reads and otherwise connives how to get extra video game time, boredom drives DS2 to become the Family Pest and drive us all completely batty. Boredom also encourages him to overeat (I've had that problem, too).

Where did anyone say it was 'Bonsoir'? Some of us are making the point that having to sometimes entertain yourself can stimulate your creativity and, as I said, there's an interesting article about it in the Wall Street Journal.

You may not agree with it, I'm sure not everyone does. But it does explain where some of us are coming from and why some people (including experts) feel that over stimulation might sometimes be detrimental to creativity. Obviously, its not black and white, but it is one angle on the whole subject.

You are using "boredom" as a synonym for "absence of entertainment". That is not the definition of boredom.

Something happened last night that got me thinking about this thread again.
When we got home from school the children went straight to the playroom and made a den under the table. They moved most of the toys (I have a set of toyboxes like the type you see in a lot of schools) including 20 odd Barbies, Monster High and Winx dolls, My Little Ponies and various playsets under there, made a register, took my DD's tablet and made a school, complete with 'Whiteboard'. I had around an hour and a half with all the children before my mindees were picked up and I barely saw them.
DS took one look, went upstairs to the safety of his bedroom where he has a tablet, TV and Xbox and designed a new stadium for his favourite football team before setting up a frankly unwinnable game on Fifa.
You can get the best of both worlds you know, it doesn't have to be 'too many toys' or 'imaginative play', children can utilise one to feed the other quite nicely.
Still YABU.

No I'm using boredom as in 'the state of being bored' which is its definition. And, in my experience, one of the things people do when they're bored is try to find something interesting or entertaining or useful to do to stop themselves being bored.

My mum used to tell me and my siblings that there was plenty of housework to be done, and we could get on with dusting / vacuuming / folding clothes etc whenever we complained of boredom.

That was a pretty effective way of encouraging us to find creative ways to fill our time.

LOL. I remember that too PurpleStorm. Its amazing how your imagination gets to work pretty quickly when there's a duster being waved threateningly in your face.

Surely children should be encouraged to rely on their own resources to drum up entertainment for themselves. That could be picking up a book to read, playing an imaginary game with dolls.....
Childrens time doesnt have to be always organised and they dont need to be constantly entertained. Falling into this trap will result in us producing a generation of unresourceful children with no get up and go.

Where do all the balls come from?

My kids seem to have an endless number of balls. I am sure I didn't buy them?

Maybe they go forth and multiply Morloth like those bloody Barbie dolls.

I think that Barbie dolls can encourage imaginative play.