Should toy manufacturers have a responsibility towards parents and kids?
By SilPhil
@SilPhil (267)
Australia
March 20, 2007 4:17am CST
I know, the point of any business is to make money, and so companies are going to keep making rubbish, as long as kids buy it. But at the end of the day, do you think these companies have a responsibility towards us as parents, and our kids?
The reason I ask is: as some of you know I babysit a little girl before school. This morning she was playing with her Tamagotchi (or however you spell it). Time came to go to school, and she wanted to take it along. I said no, (the schools rule) and world war 3 broke out, resulted in her throwing the toys across the house, and telling me to shut up, refusing to speak to me the whole walk to school.
Now the company has designed these toys so that they can't be paused, and if you don't 'care' for it, it dies. This is the reason why they're banned in schools here. Can you imagine having a class full of kids playing with these toys beeping non-stop? The teacher would never get anywhere!! So this company markets these for kids, well aware that this is going to happen.
Again, I know the point is for these companies to make money, but don't you think they have a responsibility towards these kids? At least things like a playstation or whatever you can pause and save the game and come back to it after school, but not these. If you leave it, it dies and you have to start from scratch. I personally think its really rude of the manufacturer to put parents, schools and kids in that position.
I know, you're probably thinking just don't let them have one, but come on, is that really a solution? Kids get pocket money, earn money by doing chores for neighbours, money forbirthdays/Christmas, even get given these toys for Christmas. Obviously kids are going to get one, so shouldn't the manufacturer make them more 'school-friendly'??
3 people like this
3 responses
@pangeacat (619)
• United States
23 Mar 07
Well, I would say that toy manufacturers have a rsponsibility to create toys that are safe for children to play with. However, it is the parents/caregivers/schools responsibility as to how they should handle how a child plays with their toys.
I had one of those electronic pet things (like what you're talking about). It NEVER crossed my mind to be rude to an authority figure when they asked me to put it away. It NEVER crossed my mind to play with it during class (even if I did sleep or passively refuse to pay attention during school). With my sister, who had the same thing and still does (she's about 9 years younger than myself), she also would never have dreamed of being that rude when her care-giver asked her to put it away. If she was (and she had a tendency to be a fairly rude child), it would have been promptly taken away from her. If she insisted on maintaining her attitude, she would have found that toy in the trash!
If the toy has become that much of a problem, then her parents need to take it away from her. They need to let her know that her obsessive behoavior is not okay, in regards to this. The toy manufacturer is not responsible for parenting.
@pangeacat (619)
• United States
4 Apr 07
Thank you for awarding me with best response. It came as a bit of a surprise for me, and I appreciate that you found my reply worthy of that.
@dfinster (3528)
• United States
23 Mar 07
I knew a few people that had those when I was younger and they seemed to die on them all the time. I never had one because I wasn't interested in them after seeing what happened to the ones my friends had. My daughter doesn't have any of those either. I think it's ridiculous that they make toys like that, but you're right it's just about money. And what better way to make money than make a toy that has to be bought over and over.
