Are kids' toys today too overprotective?

[Rocket Surgeon]

You mean this fucker?



I had one of those. It was the only present I got one year for Christmas from my parents/Santa and it was the only thing I needed. I never realized how expensive it was, but fuck it. Every parent spoils their kid a LITTLE bit.

Holy shit I forgot I had one of those!

[rodroy323]

Yes, yes they are. It's sad really :-/

[Armourboy]

Heck we used to throw those AT each other. Sure it was stupid and our parents didn't like the end result most of the time but it was fun.

Well after someone got hurt you learned to modify the rules a bit. We also used to blow everything in the world up, nothing like being a small boy with some M-80's or Black Cats. I think Frogs were my personal favorites, but blowing crawdads pincers off was a blast too.

[Marthenil]

They have even bigger lego sets and fully automatic nerf guns today OP...

I would have cut off my leg for one of these as a kid.

I would give one of my kidneys for one of those back in the days :P Especially if it was BBs instead of nerfs.
The bb guns we were using were weak and cheap as fuck and used to break in like 2 days so we bought them in the dozens from peddlers during a certain week of the summer (The town's Saint festival). The more it hurt the better it was
Then one of the kids somehow got his hands on one of the "professional" bb guns...We didn't play any wars until his broke lol

[Laize]

Holy shit I forgot I had one of those!

Dude when I had that I ran the battery down so fucking many times... I don't think I was ever sadder as a kid than when the battery wouldn't hold a charge anymore and we had to junk it

---------- Post added 2012-09-13 at 05:27 AM ----------

Well after someone got hurt you learned to modify the rules a bit. We also used to blow everything in the world up, nothing like being a small boy with some M-80's or Black Cats. I think Frogs were my personal favorites, but blowing crawdads pincers off was a blast too.

I remember when I was 10-12 and the internet was just coming around. I got my hands on the anarchist cookbook and holy shit it was the first time I ever got grounded. I was 12 with a cookbook... what was I supposed to do; NOT make napalm out of gasoline and styrofoam? PFFFFFFT

[Deleted]

No parent buys an 8 year old an iPad. I certainly hope no one does.

My 9 year old cousin got an Ipad and an Iphone T.T

[Buxton McGraff]

Toys these days do seem extremely wimpy. When I was a kid I was running around with plastic ninjas and batman figures with spiked armor, plastic swords and shields, cap guns, etc. Now everything is stuffed with fluff and glows with every color of the rainbow. However I do have to give some of the kids props, because as a senior in high school last year I had to monitor a class of 1st graders, and in Art class those kids were operating power drills and hand saws like pros.

[wvx]

I know a couple that let their children of around that age play with their iPad. But then I work in the tech sector.

Anyway, anyone else use to drink out of the garden water hose on hot days when you were running around outside with your friends? Yea... I can't imagine parents letting you do that anymore.

And that's why young people's immune system is fucked up (asthma , alergies , etc) . When I was little I was in the country side 3-4 months a year playing in dirt , fishing by hand or with a fishing pole , swimming in the mountain river , helping my grandparents with the cutting of the grass (cut it , let it dry , stack it) , going with friends and cooking the fish we caught or barbeque milk corn (dunno how the hell it's called in english) directly on the charcoals and eating it , etc. AND look at me I have no health problems , in the past 10 years I had only one bad cold (had a little high temperature) .
And now I look at the kids that all day they play with the phones or use the computer or watch TV .... man , they don't know what they are missing .

[Alski]

My 1 yr old niece gets the old cell phones and plays games on it.

My friends little boy use to do that as well, hes now 4 and plays minecraft on the Xbox.

[Eorayn]

My little sister (age 5, almost 6) has a lot of toys, mostly barbies, plushies, dolls+house and stuff, but she also spends a lot of time playing “Pixeline” or “My Littlest Pets’ Shop” on my parents’ iPad, and she watches a lot of films, mostly Disney like The Little Mermaid, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves or Beauty and the Beast, but also newer girly movies like those Barbie movies and the Tinkerbell ones. But I don’t think the children’s toys industry has changed that fatally over the years. At least they still know how to play with toys.

[Marthenil]

And that's why young people's immune system is fucked up (asthma , alergies , etc) . When I was little I was in the country side 3-4 months a year playing in dirt , fishing by hand or with a fishing pole , swimming in the mountain river , helping my grandparents with the cutting of the grass (cut it , let it dry , stack it) , going with friends and cooking the fish we caught or barbeque milk corn (dunno how the hell it's called in english) directly on the charcoals and eating it , etc. AND look at me I have no health problems , in the past 10 years I had only one bad cold (had a little high temperature) .
And now I look at the kids that all day they play with the phones or use the computer or watch TV .... man , they don't know what they are missing .

Yep and obesity.
Milk corn (Are you greek by any chance? this is exactly what it's called in Greek lol) is a must even nowadays. I learned how to hunt by protecting a small milk corn patch from ferrets and sparrows with an air gun.

[obdigore]

WTH is Milk Corn?

Is it what us 'MERICANS! know was sweet corn? I don't find anything with a quick google search.

[Rocket Surgeon]

Did anyone else have the Zoids that you'd have to put together yourself? They came in a box, about 100+ pieces depending on the model and a little motor so they'd walk around an what not. I went through so many of those, destroying them not long after in mock battles.

This thread is starting to produce manly tears of nostalgia.

[Marthenil]

WTH is Milk Corn?

Is it what us 'MERICANS! know was sweet corn? I don't find anything with a quick google search.

In my book at least, its the type of corn that when raw when you break the little seeds they release a white-y substance.

[Beavis]

They have even bigger lego sets and fully automatic nerf guns today OP...

I would have cut off my leg for one of these as a kid.

Fuck that. We had Entertech:



Then the Cold War ended and America turned into a nation of pussies.

[Mormolyce]

When I was a kid in the late 80s/early 90s we had toys that were fucking awesome.

I had the 2 best toys that any kid could ever have had.

This toy was only surpassed in awesomeness for 6-8 year olds by This behemoth.

Has anyone seen any truly awesome "dangerous" kids' toys anymore? I can't even find a "my first chemistry set" for kids... at least not one that has actual chemicals that kids can mess with... just bullshit like "test acids and bases and look under microscopes".

What happened to letting kids take risks? Even TINY ones?

I guess toy companies got sick of paying out millions in lawsuits?

I played with LEGO and Transformers and stuff when I was a kid. No offence but those toys look kinda boring to me :P

[Deleted]

Ofcourse it the toys were only till season 3-4 when I played...but godamn, I wanted to be the very best...like no one ever was.

[Felya]

My guess, all of you would be paying WoW or some other video game. My guess is not based on 'candyassed' toys, but your choice of web sites. Kids used to have pet rocks too... Way back in the ancient 1980s...

[garethrogue]

I'd answer this question, but I'm too busy brushing the manes of my My Little Pony toys.

[Marthenil]

My guess, all of you would be paying WoW or some other video game. My guess is not based on 'candyassed' toys, but your choice of web sites.

Well there was a point in my life that I got a Playstation. Then everything else was history :P Would never say no to some airgun hunting though :P Heck I still do that !