Will our children reflect on the toys and computer games that they have today with the same enthusiasm that James May exhibits for Plasticene, Meccano and Scalextric?
The TV series ‘James May’s Toy Stories’ sees the hirsute super geek of Top Gear fame revisiting his childhood toy favourites with a BBC budget and a bunch of screen writers. They’ve concocted a series in which Mr May builds a full-size plastic Spitfire plane, a full size house from Lego bricks, a full size bridge over the Leeds and Liverpool canal built entirely from Meccano and a 3 mile replica of the Brooklands banked racing circuit built entirely from Scalextric.
Mr May clearly likes toys that involve building something. They come from a time when toys were inspiring and didn’t involve a blasting virtual adversaries into oblivion with a range of improbable weaponry.
His TV programs are aired at a time of year when many of us are considering the Christmas gifts requested by our youngsters. For some years now these have been dominated by the latest games consoles and computer games. Last year it was the Wii fit and Guitar Hero. This year they want Santa to bring them DJ Hero.
I’ve been discussing which form of toy is actually the most beneficial for child development? Computer games and modern games consoles or inspiring, creative construction toys like Meccano, Scalextric or Lego.
I belong to the same generation as James May. I grew up with Airfix model kits, footballs and bicycles. I’ve never really understood why computer games have grown to become as popular as they are today. Personally, I would get a lot more enjoyment and satisfaction from building a model railway circuit than I would from pretending to be a disk jockey or pretending to play guitar. I suppose that building a model railway is actually pretending to be a railway engineer. Toot Toot!
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Tags: Parenting