To think kids don’t ask for half as many toys etc these days cos of less exposure to advertising?

[Waitingforthesunnydays]

Not really an AIBU but I’m just wondering if this is an age thing, a just my kid thing, or if it really is cos of less exposure to adverts aimed at children on TV. Or perhaps it’s cos of the sheer amount of kids’ toys out there these days, rather than everyone wanting a Barbie or transformer or Ninja Turtle like they did in the 80s/90s. My dd is only 5 so she may just not have reached the stage of constantly nagging me for the latest toy like I did to my mum. But I notice she never asks for anything, unless we’re in the supermarket where she’ll ask for sweets or a magazine if she sees them. When I was that age in the late 80s/early 90s I remember constantly nagging my mum for a Ninja turtle figure and a shellsuit 🤣. But I’d be sat in front of the tv every day after school with heavily child-aimed advertising shown to me every 20 mins, plus we went to way more physical shops compared to now, where I get most stuff online. I think the shellsuit obsession came from kids at school wearing them (non uniform school). Dd only watches cartoons on iplayer so no adverts & sometimes YouTube kids which I don’t think has adverts in what she watches on there. There actually seems to be way less engagement with popular culture amongst little kids these days, compared to 35 years ago. Obviously I know that’ll change as soon as she starts to get interested in social media, which is still (hopefully) a long way off. But I’m just wondering if others with similar age kids are noticing the same?

They're too busy with their heads in gadgets instead.

Sadly I think it’s because they only care about screens .

There is generally less playing, which is very sad. In my house we have toys galore!! My kids don't have computer games but do watch tv for a bit after school. But they mostly choose to play and I've noticed my 11 year old now seems "immature" compared to her peers. But I'm glad they're getting a childhood. No social media until at least 14.

Mine doesn’t. She has an iPad and I let her watch stuff on iplayer but there’s no big fight to get her off it. She actually prefers playing with her toys or colouring (also aware this may change as she gets older) but she doesn’t show any particular preference for a specific toy (eg a Barbie) then nags me for the Barbie car, the Barbie house whatever, like I used to do with my mum. She is happy to play with a variety of different toys. I think part of it is the sheer amount and variety of kids’ toys these days. We had less choice back in the day

My dd is 5 and only watches 30min youtube per day.
I estimate by her age I would have watched 500hours of ads back in the 80s.
Ynbu.

Think you are right op for those who don’t have much time on screens don’t see any advertising.

however I can’t walk by a shop without my daughter noticing the latest football and what she needs to do to earn ANOTHER bloody football. She’s 4 😂😭

I agree. I also sort of feel that my own childhood (90s!) was a golden age of toys, whereas what’s available now is mostly a rehash of the old favourites or just less good. Perhaps just rose tinted spectacles!

This nails it! Also more kids in full time nursery / childcare and wrap around care as more mums
work so less time to play at home.

I think 5 is just still young. Imo parents tend to be quite off on the age when they’re retelling a story from 30 years ago in terms of what their child did at what age.

My oldest DC is just about to be 5 and she has never asked for anything specific other than an abstract ask ‘I want a fluffy unicorn for my birthday’ but she hasn’t seen any adverts so it’s never specific.

To be fair I’m not really sure how less play time at home would really translate to asking for less toys. Surely more time playing with different things outside the home with and increases exposure to the opinions and likes of peers would increase their awareness of items they don’t have but want?

I'm not someone who is anti screen time, but I do think it's because of screens x

Mine is 6 but is always asking me for lego, usually the most expensive lego sets going. He makes a beeline for the lego store whenever we are in a town.

Are there even adverts on TV these days? Don’t think I’ve seen one for the past 15 years.

The lack of the Argos catalogue in paper form perhaps, my DD’s spent hours ringing things they weren’t going to get because it was branded plastic tat

Maybe parents are finally finding their voice and actually saying no

We were asked we said no so they stopped asking

I completely agree. At times we have struggled at Christmas to buy something they really wanted. I remember as a child being desperate for a keyper, a rainbow brite doll, sylvanian families, polly pocket etc. I don’t think my kids have ever shown that much desire for a toy. They don’t really see adverts anymore as they just skip them and our subscriptions are mostly ad free. They still ask for lego but I don’t think we ever had that “must have” toy.

I don't think children play with toys the way we used to. I would say by around age 7 my kids didn't play with actual toys they played on games consoles or outside with friends with bikes/footballs etc.

My children were born mid 90s early 00s and they were definitely exposed to more advertising,toy catalogues , toy shops etc .
Grandchild loves going into our local charity shop to look at toys.
Argos and Woolworths catalogue was the family bible when my lot were small!

Yes! Coming here to say that in our house it was definitely the Argos catalogue that primarily drove toy pestering, not TV adverts or peers.

ipads and games consoles seem to be all kids want.

I loved watching toy adds when I was a child, they were only really on the tv in December though, trying to sell the latest toys. There was far less choice of toys then too. We would also circle what we wanted in the Argos catalogue. There were always the toys everyone wanted each year….that parents struggled to find. Nothing can really compete with the tech kids have now, the iPad does so much, the games consoles are addictive and high quality. By the time kids reach 8 years old they don’t really want anything other than screens.

I agree and one of mine is 9 and this hasn’t changed,
rather than asking for the barbie house or whatever they’ll use another dolls house with a mix of toys, lego, sylvanians, teddies etc all piled in together. Some toys (playmobil!) include a handy leaflet with details of other toys in the range and mine look and that and briefly want all of it but it’s fleeting, I presume because it’s not reinforced by loads and loads of TV ads.

My kid watches a lot of CBBC and Nickelodeon so she sees a lot of ads and is constantly asking for specific toys.

I think in general you’re right.

Mine did ask for Minecraft because ‘everyone’ had it - so I guess the focus is shifting to digital products.
But also he very often kept saying ‘can I have a toy’ - not specifying any, and is the biggest Lego fan asking for all the sets even though none of his friends at school are.

My dcs are a little older as teens now but there was a stark difference the year we got rid of sky (which the kids often watched live tv) and moved to them watching Netflix /disney + /iplayer. My kids went from having a long list of things they wanted to struggling to think of more than one or two things they’d seen in someone else’s house. (think it was really noticeable as we did the change between a Christmas and birthday.)

I think the only live tv we ever watch as a family now is on the bbc so no one gets tv ads anymore.

My 6 yo is always wanting cuddly toys and also there seems to be a craze for laboubo dolls in her class (impossible to get and also to remember how to spell!). She sees lots of you tube toy ads.

My 9 yo has stopped being interested in toys though. Some of his friends still like Lego.