Toy Fair Fare

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Brad

I recently was hired to work on a project with Neil Howe. Along with his partner, William Straus, Neil coined the term “Millennials.” More importantly, his work has contributed in a profound way to how we think about generations, their different proclivities, and their particular approaches to relationships.

As I went to Toy Fair yesterday, I was thinking about this. In particular, I was thinking about Generation X and its relationship with its children. After all, the toys at Toy Fair all are being marketed at the children of Gen Xers.

What does that mean? To understand that, people who study generational differences tell us that we need to step back and look at how Gen Xers were raised. Generation X is the progeny of working and divorced parents. Under-parented, Generation X looks to create for its children the childhood it never had. My observation and analysis of other data suggests that Gen Xers also are looking to relive some of that lost childhood.

So as I was walking through Toy Fair, I was looking for toys that:

Promote interaction between children and adults
Have multigenerational appeal

Two items that fit these criteria are Spot It! and Boom Whackers.

Spot It! is a new game from Blue Orange that takes some of the elements of the classic Go Fish, expands the paradigm, and presents it all in a colorful and portable package that Gen Xers can take with them for them and their children to play in restaurants, at the park, or anywhere the opportunity or need to play a game presents itself. Blue Orange says it is for children 6 years-old and up, but believe me when I say that 4 and 5 year-olds will enjoy Spot It! as well. Watch a demonstration of the game here:

Boomwhackers are tuned percussion tubes that create specific notes when struck. If you are a Gen Xer, and you want your kid to play along as you strum through a U2 medley, just give him or her those tubes that are in the key of the songs you are playing. Once he or she understands the joy of making you music, you can introduce the other tuned Boomwhackers tubes and teach him or her to play melodies. To my point, enjoy a video of some teens in Germany playing the White Stripe’s “Seven Nations Arm” and the Tetris theme on Boomwhackers:

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Abstain from Palin

Posted on November 17, 2010 by Brad

Bristol Palin and her Dancing with the Stars co-contestant, Jersey Shore’s the Situation, are in a new commercial promoting abstinence. I cannot tell you how happy it made me to type that sentence.

Bristol’s postpartum pro-abstinence stance is not new. Just last year she appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America saying, “Regardless of what I did personally, I just think that abstinence is the only … 100 percent foolproof way to prevent pregnancy.”

Bristol is correct, of course. I personally believe that all teens should be taught abstinence as an alternative to sex, just as I believe that all teens should be taught safe sex and the proper use of contraception.

However, I do not believe that Bristol is the best spokesperson.

Back in the 1990’s, it was popular to use young recovering addicts in drug abuse prevention programs to offer real-life cautionary tales to teens. On the surface, it seemed like a great idea: these speakers talked with authority, they could relate to their young audiences, and they were real.

It turns out that these programs had an effect opposite of what was intended.

Instead of a cautionary tale, many teens inferred from these speakers that they too could abuse drugs, recover, and become the center of attention.

These programs actually increased drug abuse.

Similarly, I am worried that too many teens will look at Bristol and see a young woman whose unplanned pregnancy as a teenager made her famous, landed her a spot on Dancing with the Stars, and afforded her the… opportunity… to hang out with the Situation.

If you have a child who is entering adolescence, talk with him or her. Do not assume that he or she knows how you feel about premarital sex. Make it explicit. Make sure he or she understands the real consequences of teenage pregnancy – like poor educational outcomes for the baby and unhealthy and unhappy relationships for the parents – and make sure that you are your child’s role model, not Bristol.

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Drano Bombs

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Brad

I typically and deliberately write to an audience of parents of tweens and teens or to professionals who work with tweens and teens. However, I am addressing this post, the first since my summer hiatus, to my aunt and my own mother who circulated this e-mail:

Kids are putting Drano, tin foil, and a little water in soda bottles, capping it up, and leaving them on lawns. When you go to pick up the trash, and the bottle is shaken just a little in about 30 seconds or less it builds up a gas and explodes with enough force to remove some of your extremities. The liquid that comes out is boiling hot as well.

Don’t pick up any plastic bottles that may be lying in your yards or in the gutter, etc.

1. a plastic bottle with a cap.

2. a little Drano.

3. a little water.

4. a small piece of foil.

5. Disturb it by moving it; and BOOM – No fingers left and other serious effects to your face, eyes, etc.

People are finding these “bombs” in mailboxes and in their yards, just waiting for you to pick it up intending to put it in the trash. But, you’ll never make it! It takes about 30 seconds to blow after you move it.

The e-mail goes on to say that Snopes.com, an exceptionally good Web site that exists to prove or disprove these viral e-mail rumors, confirms its veracity. That is true…sort of.

Two “Works Bombs” were found on lawns in a small town in Michigan and similar devices were used to blow up three mailboxes in a different small town in Massachusetts. In both sets of instances, the culprits were never found.

I do not object to the warning, and I certainly do not want individuals to be hurt by explosions (which is why I, like all of the major Fire Departments, opposed the expansion of the Arizona’s legal fireworks definition to include much more powerful devices).

I object to three things:

It blames “kids” – not “some kids” or “a few kids,” but “kids” – as a homogeneous and unified group.
It indicts the entirety of the Nation’s kid population without any proof that kids were behind either of these instances.
It treats two separate incidents as a trend.

All of this is related to one of my central tenets: misinformation and hysteria creates a distance between adults and kids that thwarts real, positive and meaningful communication.

Did some kids in two small towns replicate an experiment from a science class and create some damage in those two small towns? My guess is that they did. Have kids been blowing up stuff since the advent of explosives? Absolutely. Moreover, society seems to think that blowing stuff up can be pretty funny (see Syd Chaplin’s 1921 film “King, Queen and Joker,” a 1972 episode of M*A*S*H entitled “Cowboy,” and virtually every Tom and Jerry cartoon). But it is not an epidemic, the behavior is not unique to this generation of young people, and you need not regard every kid with suspicion (OK, Mom and Aunt Barb?).

If you suspect that a kid in your life is experimenting with mixing chemicals, ask him or her about it. Find out what they are doing. Explain the dangers and consequences of it. If he or she is interested in science, encourage that and find safe arenas where he or she can explore that interest.

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I've Been Talking to Your Kids

Category Archives: Talking to your kids

Toy Fair Fare

Abstain from Palin

Drano Bombs