Im getting depressed reading some of these posts. I was thinking, gone are the simpler things in life I enjoyed when I was growing up such as:
Play Doh
Shrinky Dinks
Playing outside without an armed guard
Big Wheels
Stretch Arm Strongs
All those cool RONCO© products
Playing kick the can, hide and go seek
Etc.
Etc.
Etc.
Slinky, the metal kind.
I actually got one a couple years ago. They’re not sold in toy stores though, they’re sold in places like the “Museum Store” that cater to nostalgia items.
Ah well, at least I have one. 
(Actually, the above is only a slight exaggeration.)
I think it’s really sad the degree to which we tend to “over stimulate” kids these days. When I was little we developed our imaginations – a simple box or block of wood could be anything! As a child I don’t remember having a single battery-operated toy. But, I could go to the moon in a refrigerator box or build matchbox superhighways in the back yard with a spoon and a little left-over concrete mix discovered in a corner of the chicken shed. Even dirt was a toy to us back then!
Now, many parents plunk their kids down in front of the square-headed babysitter with a stack of DVDs or video games. Later, those same parents lament that they just can’t understand why their teenagers can’t find constructive ways to amuse themselves! What do the parents expect, when the kids have been raised almost exclusively on destruction and have never had to exercise their imaginations to build things?
I don’t have anything against violent TV or video games, in moderation, but is it really a surprise that kids raised almost exclusively on violence and destruction and accustomed to instant gratification come to subconsciously equate destruction with having a good time?
All of the above are still around (well, perhaps not kick the can). Shrinky Dinks are still really popular among my daughter’s set, though Play Doh and Big Wheels are more for the kindergarten bunch. Ronco is alive, well, and mostly being sold in “As Seen on TV” shops. And I live in one of the few remaining areas where you can let your kid play outside without an escort. So don’t despair!
Redwolf
Ronco is alive, well, and mostly being sold in “As Seen on TV” shops.
SERIOUSLY!!! I really REALLY do miss my “In the egg beater”:sniffle:
I’ve been thinking about this sort of thing over the past few weeks… I grew up in a small town (1300 people - where we moved after living in a village of 450 people) in the red rock country of southern Utah. Until I was about 12, all us kids spent nearly our entire free time outdoors building “huts” out of rock and sagebrush on the hillsides, playing red rover, dare base, hide & seek, and kick the can with neighborhood kids. We spent a lot of time hiking - a group of us would take water and head off into the nearby hills after letting our parents know where we were bound.
Now I have a young nephew who is growing up in the same town who never goes outside. He spends all his time glued to a PlayStation - hours a day. He didn’t learn to ride a bike until he was 10 years old - and then only because it was forced on him. Admittedly, he’s unusual there, but not by much.
It takes effort by parents to get kids interested in other things - active, imaginative things. And I think it’s got to be started young before they’re addicted to the sedentary pursuits of today’s kids. My daughter was raised in cities where it wasn’t always easy to find safe interesting outdoor things to do, but I’ve done what I could and now that she’s grown she loves the outdoors, spending time fishing, hiking, mountain biking, camping, etc. I feel really sorry for kids who don’t have a lot of options or parents who make no effort to introduce these types of activities to their children.
Susan
That’s what I love about where we live. Our home is on the grounds of a Christian conference center in the redwoods above Santa Cruz…there are about 500 other families who live here year ‘round, and we’re a really tight bunch. We all look out for one another’s kids (and even the conference center employees know all the kids by name and keep an eye out for them). My daughter loves to walk down to the conference center soda fountain or to the little park there. When she’s with friends, they can go down to the creek and look for sharks’ teeth and banana slugs. When I need her closer to home, she loves to play in “the forest” (a vacant lot on the corner which, because we live in the woods, is like a mini-forest) or ride her scooter around the quiet roads near our home. I’m not sure I would feel this comfortable any other place, but it’s nice knowing she can have something of the free-roaming childhood I enjoyed. Even though I grew up in a city of about 180,000, it was a relatively safe place in the 1960s/70s…we were always on our bikes running back and forth to each other’s homes, to the park, and to the local hamburger joint.
Yes indeed…you can find both Ronco and Popeil (sp?) products in the “As Seen on TV Stores.” I don’t think I’ve seen the “in-the-egg” beater in a while, but it will probably come around again.
Redwolf
I can’t believe I’m on the internet instead of upstairs practicing…In a few minutes…
Yeah, back in the day…Third grade, my dad goes to the police auction for stolen bikes and gets me a 26" Schwinn (way too big for me) for $3. I get started on the thing by hanging onto power poles and shoving off. Stop by braking and hugging a power pole to stop. (I advanced quickly beyond that stage.) All my friends had bikes and we rode for miles around. The bike lasted me through high school and I passed it on to my younger siblings, who finally rode it into the ground. (I remember flying down a long hill on it with another friend in high school and smoke pouring out of the pedal brake at the rear axel.) My teenagers don’t ride bikes at all. Now, I have a mountain bike for the dirt trails around here. Love it!
And books! Rode that old bike to the library to get stuff on mythology, fantasy, eventually science fiction. Haven’t stopped. Got to admit, though, I was a tv addict back then. I think time in the military got me away from that, not to mention music practice. Speaking of which… adios.
Tony
Tony, my goodness!!
Well, I know for sure that “Don’t Break the Ice” is still around, and a Slinky, Uno, barrel full of monkeys, a chess set, a chalkboard, a harmonica, and “Connect Four” were under our tree this year. The funny thing is, these kinds of toys are a lot cheaper to buy than the battery powered kind, and the kids seem to enjoy them a lot more. We got away with only one battery-operated device, a little remote control plane that can’t fly for beans. So, it just goes to show, better to go without the batteries.
Gotta say though, the TV has been on a lot the last couple of days with a sick kid in the house. I guess I’ll wean them again after the plague has passed.
Robin
Tony, my goodness!!
What? Seasonal moulting is all. It’ll grow back. Actually, my toupee took off in a strong breeze. You didn’t really have to mention it, did you? :roll:
Tony
(I’m back downstairs to get some late lunch, then back to practicing.)
There’s a really great little store in my town called “Toys That Time Forgot”. They sell all the greats from the 50’s through the 80’s, maybe some from before that. I remember seeing one of my favs there from when I was about 7, Zippity Speedway. Little styrofoam cars that ran around a metal track with a blower under it. Cool toy until my little brother ate the cars. 
Now I feel old. You’re nostalgic for toys they didn’t have yet when I was a kid: Big Wheels, Shrinky Dinks and Stretch Armstrong.
Don’t feel too bad for the kids of today. Some day they’ll be looking back through rose tinted glasses at their own childhoods and feeling bad for their kids. Much as the kids of today may seem jaded to us, they’re still looking at the world for the first time, and still full of wonder about it all.
The thing that bugs me most in this vein is Legos. They used to come in a big box full of blocks, and you could make anything with them that your imagination could cook up (if you had enough blocks). Now, they just come in sets designed to build one thing. Why not just sell the preassembled toy? I just don’t see the point.
When I was a kid we watched a lot of TV, but we also went outside and played a lot, often with no toys (or using toys but pretending they were something completely different). It seems like and awful lot of kids today just don’t do that much any more. They just want to watch TV and play video games. We were in the airport waiting for a flight yesterday, and one little boy plunked down in front of one of the TVs in the gate. It was playing CNN, which he clearly had absolutely no interest in (he was about 7), but it was TV, so he had to watch. It was kind of sad. So I’m really glad to hear from those of you with fairly normal kids who still like to play.
Steven
Well, admittedly my walker’s in the mail, as I put it, but, jim_mc: Shrinky Dinks? Never heard of 'em. Back in MY day, we went swimming in cold water for that. Kids these days have it WAY too easy, if you ask me. Hmph.
The legos comment is inappropriate: you can still make whatever you want out of lego, just some of the pieces are more specialized. (and often times VERY useful for that thing you wanted to build)
And I don’t know what you mean about coming in a big box. Legos always came in “Sets” (models of something) It was the super big kindergarten sets (Duplo now) that came in big boxes.
And just for your information, besides the star wars, harry potter, and spider man sets, they are selling sets that give you several (3 or 4) different models to build. Lots of extra pieces. Much imagination.
As for children not having “imagination”. I just came back from Miami. My uncle was telling about how last christmas they got my cousins a toy that came in a fairly big cardboard box, which they proceeded to play with. Instead of the toy.
Happy New Year everyone
Speaking of Legos, did you know that the heads of the little people that come with the sets can be taken off. My kids had fun taking the heads off and putting some other piece in its place, like an antenna from the police motorcycle or even another little person. Great fun!
Mike
Play-Doh is still around…ground into my carpet from the days when my now 7-year-old used it.
Though I agree that most of the things passed off as toys these days are pathetic, there are still bright spots.
I can still find Slinys, Play Doh, COnnect Four, Ants in the Pants and Aggravation. Milton Bradley put out a wonderful game called Black Box that I still remember; and I still have the forst and bast football board game put out by Parker Bros: Pigskin (no videotape came with it!). Believe it or not, Parker Bros. has no record of makin ghtis game!
My daughter’s favorite gifts this Christmas were the markers and crayons…and a full ream of blank paper (she abhors coloring books).
As for the comments anout Lego sets, yes they’re packaged to stifle creativity, not encourage it. My family’s first set came in a huge carboard box, with no instructions, just pictures of things you might want to build. By brother ignored that and built a full 747 jey plane!
-Tom
Black Box!! That game was pure evil. My older brother used to torment me with that game. It was a real brain burner.
I’ve been a game nut since I was a wee one and have recently been going to various thrift stores over my lunch hour and have picked up some classics for next to nothing. Back in the late 60’s through the seventies and about midway through the 80’s some amazing board games were produced. My wife and 4yr old daughter love the games I’ve picked up. No Playstation in our house! Now you have to turn to Germany to get decent non-electronic games and they are coming out with some great ones. The Carcassonne series is an excellent example.
If you want to take a trip down board game memory lane then go to
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/
They have very complete records of just about every board game ever made. the “geeklists” are a wonderful resource. Just look up a favorite game and check the lists below it.
Mark V.
Those are all toys I bought my kids!
Man, I am getting old. I remember cowboy outfits and cap pistols and red wagons…
My uncle used to make me whistles and whammydiddles from the tree in his back yard and they were my favorite toys.
I had one of those cowboy guns. 
It had a plain brown holster and plain pistol. I loved that. It looked much more like the “real” ones the cowboys on TV wore. My brother’s was black/ double holster/Paladin emblem/ pearl handles. Not a bit like on TV. When we played- I was Billy the Kid. (or Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, why? I have no idea)
For those of you who grew up during the hey-day of the Western-
Who were you when you played cowboys?