Toys for the Next Generation

by Daniel Sean Kaye

man_with_bear.jpg class=righthand width=250 height=225 My family recently visited to spend time with my son for his birthday. Everyone seemed excited to see all the great loot there is out there for a 4-year-old. For many of them, it had been years since they had to shop for someone so young, and it proved quite an eye-opening experience.

My brother, whose youngest child is an 11-year-old girl, was excited by all the cool “boy” toys he found. In fact, it made him positively nostalgic for the Matchbox cars and racing tracks we played with 30 years ago. He was aglow with memories of the long orange strips, the contraptions with the brushes that threw the cars into race mode, the dozens of trucks and cars we had, and the plastic blue carrying-case that held our favorites.

He was also amazed at the sophisticated musical instruments, made specifically for children Aidan’s age. The guitars felt like the real thing to him, the pianos sounded professional, and the electronic drum set (which turned out to be the item he bought) was not unlike the one he got decades ago, when he began with a band—except much less expensive.

He commented that a lot of the toys he saw on his shopping missions, were things he not only would have wanted as a child, but he wanted them today. I think he was a little jealous of my son and what he had to play with. As a father of two girls, there was a whole world of games and toys he never saw before and it seemed to have stirred the child within.

Despite the recalls and the less-than exciting items available, this reminded me how great the toy world can be. In one brief moment, it turned a 44-year-old CEO back into an 11-year-old boy.

February 13, 2008

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