Specifically kids in the 8-12 range. I was a kid at the height of the Transformers and GI Joe glory days in the 80s. When I was 12 I got a sh!t ton of both toys for Christmas… GI Joe jets, action figures, Optimus Prime, MegaTron, etc. Couldn’t get enough! Legos too.
Besides Nintendo, Speak and Spell, and a few others, there weren’t any electronic devices or phones or a gazillion TV channels competing for our attention, so if we weren’t outside we were playing with toys. It was our creative outlet.
Fast forward to today. My 12 year-old son hasn’t played with a toy since he was 8. He’ll maybe do one Lego set a year. My 9 year-old son will occasionally pick up a toy, but for the most part they’re only interested in their tablets, gaming consoles, and phone (my ex got our 12 year-old his first phone when he turned 12 in October). Will also add my oldest spends a lot of time in sports when he’s not in school, so it’s not like he’s sitting on his a$$ all the time.
Does this sound familiar to anyone else? Or do your kids still have interest in and play with action figures and sets, toy cars and trucks, Legos, Barbie dolls, etc?
Besides Nintendo, Speak and Spell, and a few others, there weren’t any electronic devices or phones or a gazillion TV channels competing for our attention, so if we weren’t outside we were playing with toys. It was our creative outlet.
Fast forward to today. My 12 year-old son hasn’t played with a toy since he was 8. He’ll maybe do one Lego set a year. My 9 year-old son will occasionally pick up a toy, but for the most part they’re only interested in their tablets, gaming consoles, and phone (my ex got our 12 year-old his first phone when he turned 12 in October). Will also add my oldest spends a lot of time in sports when he’s not in school, so it’s not like he’s sitting on his a$$ all the time.
Does this sound familiar to anyone else? Or do your kids still have interest in and play with action figures and sets, toy cars and trucks, Legos, Barbie dolls, etc?