The Telegraph – Peter Tait
“One of the consequences of living in a consumer society is that we are all surrounded by ‘stuff’ – loads of it. For young children, much of this ‘stuff’ has a limited lifespan and is designed to break, dissolve, fray or self-destruct after a short time. Often, the ‘stuff’ (think toys for younger children) is an off-shoot of the latest craze, the latest movie franchise or some trend, fashion, idea, the consequences of which will fill your house and life. We can all remember some of these crazes from our youth or even our parents’ youth: hula hoops, Rubik’s cube, pogo sticks and so on. But the difference today is the ‘stuff’ just keeps coming and we just keep buying it. For young children, swamped with ever more toys and belongings, imagination becomes the first casualty. Given an endless cycle of toys, boredom sets in as one toy is replaced by another and then discarded in anticipation of the latest upgrade.”(more)