What do children play now?

(Baonghean) - Nowadays, children have few toys, that is a fact. But the reason for this depends on each person's perspective, or in the end, each parent's.

At my office, there is a female colleague who, whenever she sees others ordering toys and books for their children, rushes to order them too. One time, I met her carrying a heavy load of delivery items, all of which were children's toys. She smiled and explained: "I buy them for my children to play with, because summer is here and the children are home from school and they are restless. And I don't let them play video games."

It is true that nowadays, children have fewer games than before. When my 11th and 12th grade nieces and nephews were young, they had an attic full of toys: girls had dolls, toys, beads, teddy bears; boys had robots, superheroes, puzzles… The children even invited each other to make their own paper kites, slingshots, boats,…

Every summer break, they take out their toys and leave them all over the house. Sometimes their mother gets angry because she sees the pot of cold rice being taken out to make glue for kites, and waste paper being thrown all over the house, covered in rice. Seeing this, the children's father and I just laugh and wave our hands, saying: "Leave them alone, not being playful and destructive is not being a child!"

Folk games. Photo: Internet

Nowadays, children have fewer toys, that is a fact. But the reason for this depends on each person's perspective, or in the end, each parent's. Some people think that children today play with fewer toys than children in the past because they are less social and integrated into society. In the past, children always gathered in groups in the village and alleys, whether they had toys or not, they never lacked games, "creating and performing" together to "destroy the village and neighborhood".

Nowadays, children are mostly kept by their parents within four walls, sitting in air conditioning all day, but rarely are they allowed to go out and play with friends? Especially with the fear that their children will get dirty, that they will get sick playing in the sun, that their children will listen to their friends' suggestions and play pranks, in general, there are a thousand and one fears that make parents turn their children into "caged birds".

Some people also think that it is not that children do not have toys, but because they do not like to play with toys anymore, so adults do not buy them. So what do they play? Video games, social networks, watching movies on YouTube, reading stories on the internet, etc. Children's toys are now limited to electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, computers, televisions, etc. Recently, a forum for parents was stirred up by a controversy about a YouTube channel for children that many people commented as "tactless, offensive, and useless".

Or even more seriously, Vietnamese parents were shocked to discover that a YouTube channel that was supposed to be for children was broadcasting sexually explicit content that would make even adults blush. Yet, many Vietnamese children are passionately watching that content every day, every hour, with their parents assured that "if my child stays at home all day, he will definitely be good and will not be spoiled or deviant."

Putting aside all the possible excuses, parents should ask themselves: How many hours in a 24-hour day have we spent playing with our children? Because toys and games are not made to be played alone, but with friends, and parents - more than anyone else - must be the first, best and forever friends.

How many parents have regretted when they discovered their child had autism because they left them alone to be friends with the phone or the TV? Not only did it cost them money and effort to treat it, the biggest loss that they will probably find hard to compensate for is time, which they have spent on other things - career for example?

Another summer has come. Sometimes I look up at the sky and wonder where the kites of my childhood have gone. And I am startled out of that old memory by the sound of killing coming from a video game on some kid’s phone. And I feel sad.

Hai Trieu