Reading though the comments I think people have it backwards. The toys are not forcing you into a direction. The act of playing with a toy is an expression of a core part of what makes you the person you are. Just giving a kid an Erector set is not going to make them an engineer, but if you have a kid who likes to take apart the toy for fun to see how it works *that* is the sign you might want to get some engineering 101 books.
Back when i was a kid, had not the joy of reveiving any toy, back then i used to made it myself out of paper, a house, a costume, an animal, a drawing, anything you think of with a paper. I think that is the reason im in the creative industry right now 😊
I used to play house by myself, cooking, cleaning and taking care of my little dolls like my own kids..now i am a fulltime mom, homeschooling my kids, wfh mom..and i can never imagine my life otherwise..this is the best ✨
My favorite toy used to be dried leaves(i was an only child, i had the liberty of choosing any toy i wanted) but something about the way dried leaves broke apart made them perfect for being interstellar warships engaged in combat.
I loved my little baby dolls, probably much longer than most of my friends did. I also had one of those pregnant barbies, and a Barbie paediatrician that came with 2 newborns. I am now a NICU nurse and care my sick and premature newborns everyday! It is really cool to reflect on how my childhood might have lead me down my current path!
Did you play with those little plastic hyperdermic needles by any chance. That probably was very helpful when it came to helping people get their kahuna cyrus boosters.
My aunt bought me a real teacher starter kit when I was 7 (red pens, stickers, certificates, A BELL) and it will forever be my most memorable gift. Now I'm a teacher🥰
I'm so happy this showed up in my thing today. My family lost 95 percent of what we own due to a fire recently and my daughter lost many rare toys and books( games) just before her birthday and Christmas... I'm so fascinated by toys, history, and the interaction we have with them and how telling it can be about who we are. I wish people could have the time and money to have fun with playing with toys especially as an adult
For as long as i remember, my main play time was drawing.. i did have barbie, kitchen set and stuff. But i remember making clothes for barbie, Play dress with bedsheets at home. But most important, making greeting cards, posters, coloring, origami were me favourite pass time activities. I did become an engineer but I quit after a decade to become a full time illustrator. I do children book illustration, even fashion illustrations.
Your comments is so heartwarming for me- my 5 year old daughter LOVES to draw! I’d say her crayons, markers and paints are her “toys”, and then - books. I loved to draw too when I was her age, and also loved books. But then around age of 9 an art teacher told me something super critical and I stopped drawing. I learned to knit, embroider and throughout my life kept doing these crafts, also learning to decorate cookies and paint on them. And I read…a lot. I still feel that I am more of a creative and may be I could have become an illustrator or graphic designer. But I became a linguist/translator who loves to create with her hands :)
This speech spoke my heart. It’s been a long time that I’ve recognized this pattern in people, and I’m always fond of asking friends around me about what they most liked to play in childhood to know them better 😼
One of my favourite parts of raising two children is to rediscover the magic of play with them and watch them enjoy new activities and experiences. My oldest loves puzzles, board games, science stuff, and my youngest loves crafting, plushies, doll house playsets etc. I get to play all sorts of different games and toys with them. 😊
For me it was my dollhouse. I'd spend hours playing with it. Now I'm fascinated with real estate, I'm renovating an old church, and I'm thinking of becoming a real estate agent.
Maybe it's not so much the specific toys we played with, but how we chose to interact with them. Give 10 kids each an action figure and they may dress it up, or have it battling others, or be taking it apart to make frankencreatures, they make use them to make movies, or use them in science experiments, or line them up to be pretend patients, etc...
Toys I like as a child: - boardgames such as halma & ludo - play-pretend creating my own "house" under the dining table using my mom's old nightgowns draping over the dining chairs, crrating privacy - various toys in the shapes of food & veggies, cooking set, dining wares - making clippings out of dept store brochures as if it were a report and doing "presentation" on my own as if I'm a corporate executive. I don't even know how did I know about that. Probably from movies. - farm animals & dinosaurs - doctor set - laser gun (I love star trek) - barbie & animal plushies - those paper dolls which you can change its outfits
It's interesting how the toys do matter because of how it draws the kid's attention, even though it matters most how the kid decides to play with said toys... It's as if it was divided in 2 phases: 1- Interest 2-Development
When I was a kid my favorite Barbie “game” was launching Barbies off the fan blades of my bedroom ceiling fan lol. Then I was given a little handheld organizer device (that I nicknamed “Watson” lol) with educational games, thesaurus, dictionary, and an encyclopedia. I LOVED that thing lol. I would look up anything that I could, and learned. I still love learning, weird I know, so I continue to keep learning even as I am now older 😊.
LOL the Barbie launching! I have fond memories of a sleepover at my bestie’s where we set up a play tent inside her room and launched “Creepy Crawlers” off the ceiling fan, repeatedly 🐛🕷️🐞❤😂 (they were made from something like an Easy Bake oven, but for plastic bugs)
As a kid, my sister built a lab with a functioning sink in her bedroom and would come home with snakes in her pockets. She's a wildlife conservation biologist now. :)
That is what I’m getting from his talk. That it’s your character that shapes how we play with an item. Your natural inclinations. That’s why imaginative, open ended toys are better than toys that bind you into using their accessories. I used to sell toys after training as a kindergarten teacher and I used to be frustrated by parents saying “yes but what does this doll do?” They wanted the baby borns with accessories (what baby sits on a potty?) where do the batteries go. It is a shame when parents and children get sucked into these items and forever buying more items for them. The film Toy Story is a good example of this as each child plays very differently with toys and the toys themselves play imaginatively. Great talk.
I'm just laying out my thoughts here without research, but I feel some of these examples were stretches, like the TMNT to doctor example, and the basketball one. I think it may be more who we are that influences what toys we like rather than vice versa, not that it could not happen.
I played with matchbox cars, bicycles, LEGOs, sporting equipment…. Never owned a console… had computer and used to play racing games and flying games. Fast forward 15 years and I am an airline captain. Still want to be a racing driver though.
Think of it this way... you're racing other cars, their finish lines only amount to the roads... while your finish line is across oceans, and continents... with a spectacular view of the high ground(air, in your case).
I loved everything cute and taking care of it (I’m now a mother 😍), I played being strong (I did Thai boxing later in life), I would make toys myself and my favourite was to draw (I became an artist and have an associates degree❤️)
Really really interesting talk. I’ve never thought about it but as a kid I was always trying to build things. Lego, duplo, but also building a hut outside with friends or underneath the dining table. Now, after I’ve bought my first house, I’m really into constructing closets and other things, but must importantly: I’m really enjoying it. After this video I’m almost thinking of a career switch, thanks 😂😂
A very big shout out the dudes who were young lads in the late 60s and 70s. We tore apart most all of our toys...and eventually become mechanical engineers and tool and die makers.
I love being able to play with my kids, the fact that they enjoy building with Lego is a bonus for me. Justifying Lego purchases is a lot easier when it's my kids who put them on their wishlist, it's even cooler when they build new models from their own imagination🎉
I totally feel this! I am 35, and I have always been a playful, joking around, dont take life to serious kind of guy. However, after kids, stress, work, the world seems to want to steal your Natural Joy! I got back into collecting pokemon again like back in 1999, and it really gave me something to pursue and to have fun doing! Also, it's a way to connect with my kids to! I tell everyone to not let the world steal your joy! God says we should be like children in our faith. Well it's beleive that kind of just goes for everything! Kids still wonder, and dream, and beleive in the future! Adults start to just accept what is, and this is how it should always be, and just go through the motions for years! Life is full of magical challenges, so many things to inquire about! Just make sure you always stay Curios like a child so you don't become that person that everyone calls an old dog, and don't bother with them, they are to stuck in their ways!❤🎉
I wish it was that easy. It’s not. I didn’t have a play room. I was just trying to survive. I had a pet. It was all I had. I know now who I am. I know why I am who I am. It took 50 years, but I finally figured it out. Now I can heal. I am not broken; I am different and incredible. I am a behavioral health practitioner in career only.
It's hard to recall a toy. I liked sticks and being among trees and doing things outside with my friends, like building pine straw forts. Doing that or reading. But toys...playing withTonka trucks in rhe dirt and sniffing those vinyl Barbie clothes cases. Those were my favorites.
I don’t know that I ever had a favorite toy… but I definitely favored some things… Singing and playing music… And I’d often play with a tape recorder. Lol guess who became a musician 😂
Pleasant Company totally sold out to Matel. And it's such a shame that they don't publish American Girl Magazine anymore. There are so many girls growing up today who could use that magazine. There are a lot of people who want to raise their kids with limited or no technology for the first few years, who sure would appreciate it.
I think Chris Byrne is on to something here and I'd suggest he would come up with more accurate "forecasts" if he included children's favourite reading subjects, and here's why. While I was thinking about my favourite toys, I realised it tied in with my favourite books and cartoon magazines. It will take too long to tell you on my phone, but I may update this later from my laptop.
Wow that is so interesting! Thinking back I had a few toys that really shaped me and that was primarily animal figures and plushies animals. I suppose the cuddly plushies played into my nurturing personality (I love all my animals today like they are my babies ❤), but my little plastic animal figurines where different: I used to group them up in the garden and make these elaborate scenes. I was totally obsessed with documentaries as a kid so I my head I often played animal documentary. When I think about I I suppose not only did I just love animals, but I just loved telling stories and discover the natural world. Today I love gardening and writing on my novel. As a kid I also wouldn't shut up about certain things I would always share my fascination with everyone who would dare to listen😅. I was so fascinated with dinosaurs that I would actually learn the Latin names at 6 years old! Also my sister was always p*ssed when my barbies would have dinosaurs as pets, because she felt it wasn't proper lol. Guess I don't have to mention I own a snake now😅. But especially the "telling people about my interest" is very interesting because for the past 10 years I have been working at a museum giving guided tours and doing workshops. I just love to teach, because I love to learn. Other things I did all the time as a kid where playing with playdough or twisting grasses, twigs etc. I do a lot of textile crafting today and sculpting, and generally do a lot of art. It's just so cool to see that as a kid we actually tell the world who we are right away when we play 😊❤
I liked playing lego with my brother we had a futuristic space port and a castle. We would do great big battles between the two. We use to race cars in the passage way too. I always asked for the hot wheels happy meal instead of the my little pony one. I preferred polly pockets over Barbies but honestly don't remember playing much with either. The thing I played with most by myself tho was my marbles; I gave them personalities and acted out battles or school room or adventure play. Later I got a dolls house so played with that more. I loved imaginative play most didn't really matter what I had I found a way to give it a story. I trained as an engineer and moved to a new country.
Interesting! I just had this same conversation the other day. A lot of kids when graduating highschool arent sure what they want to do. I have always said guidance counselors should ask what toys they like to play with or activities and help them down a path using those same creative "playful" and creative stretegies. I used to LOVE playing with Kinects, as well as , Legos to a lesser extent. I am now an Engineer amd my personal hobby involves fabricating things for my old truck. I always believed that may be why die to the toys I layed with.
I loved Russ trolls. I had a huge collection of all different kinds of them and I kept them on a built in shelf in my bedroom that I kind of converted into something of a house for them. I pretended they were a huge family with a ton of kids. I even had miniature pencil topper ones and even tinier ones, that were the infants and toddlers, that I put in a little playpen. I also had a huge toy chest full of Barbies, but I think I actually preferred the trolls over the Barbies and I ended up using most of my Barbie clothes and stuff for my trolls.
I never had building blocks as a kid, but I used to make mazes out of all our vhs tapes , and then I would put our pet mice in them and would let them crawl around in there and even though I’m a girl I also really loved hot wheels and remote control cars and am so glad I was allowed to I wonder how that plays a role in who I am
I loved playing fake moneys with my siblings, either pretend as banker and always tried to incorporate money in every game. I even used to cut my notebook sheets to draw money faces with denominations. Now im an accountant. Lol
I may not be the toys we get that encourages our interest in professions later on; however, I think it may be interesting to list all the toys we have ever had as a child that we still have as adults. The Erector sets I had as a kid are still in the family being passed around. My love of the physical sciences over biological/social/political/etc that have been my profession made it easy to keep my Erector Sets and a game Bas-ket played with a ping pong ball and nets are what became a part of my adult life as an Engineer. An interesting talk. My parents placed a physical limit on the number of things I could keep as they grew up in the Depression where no one had very much and their message to me was that we don't need a lot of stuff so a portion of everything i got as gifts I needed to learn to give some to others along the way. Applied to toys and puzzles and books. An interesting talk on toys and times we grew up.
I had an Atari 2600 when I was growing up. I played that a lot. I also played with shrinky dinks, presto magix, and choose your own adventure books. My friend/neighbor and I would ride our bikes in our court and pretend we were going through the drive-thru and ordering fast food.
As for me, I was fond of playing video games by myself, which required me to consider strategy from all its aspects of how to win against the enemy. Now, I’m interested in economics and I’m going to go to the university where I can learn about them and in the future I’d like to get a job which requires skills in organizing and planning about the economy.
I played with Barbies too (Im a dude) because all my neighbors were girls at the time. Ensured I spent my teens and 20s in the friend zone lol ;) I do love the fact that the stigma is gone and I can say that I watched the Barbie movie and loved it. Picked out all the spots in LA I knew.
I loved the Smurfs, Care Bears, Transformers, Jem, Cabbage Patch kids and Barbies. I loved all the toys that came with those shows I was obsessed with TV. . I still collect Barbies and toys in general. I always loved collecting as a kid. I’m still obsessed with TV & Movies, obsessed with history and I should have become an actor. I didn’t.
I don’t remember much about my childhood 😢 I do know I loved Barney and playing outside- I would make mud pies and collect rocks, hair ties, anything weird really lol. Also had imaginary friends 😬 curious on what he would say about those
I loved to play with Barbie’s and Polly pockets. My two main Barbie’s had husbands and a lot of children as well as a pet. I can still remember all my Barbie’s and kids names. I loved decorating the Barbie house and dressing the Barbie’s in different outfits. I also loved playing legos because I could build a house however I wanted. I would be a lot happier with my current reality if my childhood play was a manifestation of what my life is like now. I don’t have a house, husband or children.
I was wondering if he was going to address the propaganda of toys. When I walk past an aisle of toys for boys, I see loads of guns, weapons, and action figures. I played with a lot of them myself and one of my dreams as a boy was to join the military and be a soldier (thank God I didn't). How many toys subtly point young men in the direction of serving the empire? I also think I'd be scared to be in a closed office with this man.
c'mon man, for most boys, if they don't have "guns, weapons, and action figures," then they will pick up sticks and use those to fight each other. Sure there is an element of "propaganda" to any given toy, or any product for that matter, but we don't have to pretend that we are somehow forcing violence on them. Boys just often like play fighting, and that's ok.
(STRONG) NATIONAL MUSEUM of PLAY is near my home, in Rochester, NY I will share this video with the MUSEUM people and others in Rochester TNX MCH ===================================================================
I think I had duel modes of play. I had tons of Legos and after the completed sets would get destroyed by my siblings I'd turn it into something else entirely and experiment with different structures. I built my own city of the future. Big imagination stuff that I'd take further by building things out of other materials. Stick forts and twist tie sculptures that I'd fabricate stories around. Almost all of my past time activities involve making something whether it's instructed or improvised. My occupation today is a maintenance tech and that's nothing but fixing, replacing, and building with specific instruction. Then at home I'm either body building or drawing. Guess my entire childhood just spelled out in big bold letters "BUILD STUFF"
I used to love setting up barbie houses, but not actually playing with the barbies. I liked making my own clothes out of scrap cloth and creating plays that I'd convince other people to act in and be the audience for. I also liked filling up water balloons, stuffing them in my bathing suit top, and playing house with my baby dolls while dressed like that. Idk what that says about me. I grew up to be a teacher, and retired early to be a sahm. I am pretty passionate about the benefits of breastfeeding, though. Maybe there's something there?
I used to play cooking. I use the tin cap of coca cola then put it on 3 small stones beneath the cap is a small candle. I would usually gather dried leaves chop em' then imagine cooking. No wonder now that I'm an adult I really love cooking.
I preferred to play pretend. A few props, but mostly what is happening in the child's mind. I'd still play pretend if I could find a playmate. However, I didn't go into things like D&D, I write stories now. Not published, but I write.
Sticks, stones, grass, streams, and insects were my toys. Rakes, shovels, and garden hoes were toys my parents forced me to use. I don’t regret my childhood one bit and believe kids today need these toys instead of their electronics or plastic toys.
Outside of video games (ESPECIALLY RPGs because I was a voracious reader), I loved my teenage mutant ninja turtles, *adored* board games, and Fashion Plates. Re: board games, I'd even play by myself and try to "beat" myself without cheating lol
Why? Video games are just another toy and should be treated the same. In my case: I guess video games shaped the path of my life so that I became a software developer.
@@MrSnaetch Because video games do the "heavy lifting" of play, and the heavy lifting is what makes play exhausting in the short run, and valuable in the long run. A video game is like outsourcing your own imagination. I like playing video games too. I'm not saying video games are evil or should never be played, just that its a shame they have wholly replaced physical toys for many children. Parents don't give kid's video games because they think they are good for them, but because its easier than actually playing with their own kids. Similarly, companies don't make video games because they think they are good for kids, but because they make far more money. Lots of people are starting to realize that our modern society has taken a dark turn - we are isolated, angry, struggling, confused, etc. Its no coincidence that an extreme popularity of video games (i.e. annually make more money than hollywood, music, and pro-sports combined) is part of this.
Remember when we started watching @UA-cam because we were tired of commercials on the tv. Now @youtube has become the very thing it was trying to avoid 😢 can’t even watch a complete video without getting interrupted by some commercial😡🤬
I was lucky as a girl to be exposed to " boy toys" because of brothers and cousins. I think i had a very diverse range of toy experiences. I wouldn't have guessed based on what i played with was what i became. But i do remember thinking baby dolla were the most dull toy you could own. Now im pregnant 😂❤
Loved my StarWars Kenner toys. We built landscapes with boxes and bedsheets, whole new storylines were created. The franchise/merchandise connection didn't limit us in any way
Tôi nghĩ việc đánh giá con người qua đồ chơi thời thơ ấu có thể quá giản lược và dễ dàng bỏ qua nhiều yếu tố quan trọng trong cuộc sống, như môi trường hoặc các trải nghiệm cá nhân.
Reading though the comments I think people have it backwards. The toys are not forcing you into a direction. The act of playing with a toy is an expression of a core part of what makes you the person you are. Just giving a kid an Erector set is not going to make them an engineer, but if you have a kid who likes to take apart the toy for fun to see how it works *that* is the sign you might want to get some engineering 101 books.
Through*
It's a question of cause and effect and which is which.
This comment is correct. I had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when I was a kid. Now I’m a successful Ninja Turtle.
And most important, allow you to want that.. because you dont want what you dont know
How about a trans Barbie or Power Ranger?
Back when i was a kid, had not the joy of reveiving any toy, back then i used to made it myself out of paper, a house, a costume, an animal, a drawing, anything you think of with a paper.
I think that is the reason im in the creative industry right now 😊
I used to play house by myself, cooking, cleaning and taking care of my little dolls like my own kids..now i am a fulltime mom, homeschooling my kids, wfh mom..and i can never imagine my life otherwise..this is the best ✨
❤❤❤
I am waiting for my parent child training which I think you will like very much. Course on Natural Approaches to Child Rearing/Udemy❤️
My favorite toy used to be dried leaves(i was an only child, i had the liberty of choosing any toy i wanted) but something about the way dried leaves broke apart made them perfect for being interstellar warships engaged in combat.
My favorite toy was rocks - take a guess at what I became!
@CopperValor geologist?
I used to play with the seed pods of maple trees. They would fly like helicopters.
@@skydude7682 something that involves vivid imagination, how did you get geologist from pretending that leaves are battleships?
@VOILA4À oh no i write science fiction lol, @CopperValor played with rocks so i thought they were a geologist
I think the problem today is that most children don't have time to just play. From an early age, most children are entertained.
I am waiting for my parent child training which I think you will like very much. Course on Natural Approaches to Child Rearing/Udemy❤️
I loved my little baby dolls, probably much longer than most of my friends did. I also had one of those pregnant barbies, and a Barbie paediatrician that came with 2 newborns. I am now a NICU nurse and care my sick and premature newborns everyday! It is really cool to reflect on how my childhood might have lead me down my current path!
Did you play with those little plastic hyperdermic needles by any chance. That probably was very helpful when it came to helping people get their kahuna cyrus boosters.
My aunt bought me a real teacher starter kit when I was 7 (red pens, stickers, certificates, A BELL) and it will forever be my most memorable gift. Now I'm a teacher🥰
I'm so happy this showed up in my thing today. My family lost 95 percent of what we own due to a fire recently and my daughter lost many rare toys and books( games) just before her birthday and Christmas... I'm so fascinated by toys, history, and the interaction we have with them and how telling it can be about who we are. I wish people could have the time and money to have fun with playing with toys especially as an adult
For as long as i remember, my main play time was drawing.. i did have barbie, kitchen set and stuff.
But i remember making clothes for barbie,
Play dress with bedsheets at home.
But most important, making greeting cards, posters, coloring, origami were me favourite pass time activities.
I did become an engineer but I quit after a decade to become a full time illustrator. I do children book illustration, even fashion illustrations.
Your comments is so heartwarming for me- my 5 year old daughter LOVES to draw! I’d say her crayons, markers and paints are her “toys”, and then - books. I loved to draw too when I was her age, and also loved books. But then around age of 9 an art teacher told me something super critical and I stopped drawing. I learned to knit, embroider and throughout my life kept doing these crafts, also learning to decorate cookies and paint on them. And I read…a lot. I still feel that I am more of a creative and may be I could have become an illustrator or graphic designer. But I became a linguist/translator who loves to create with her hands :)
Kudos to you for doing what you love! My little boy loves reading illustrated books with me
An insightful talk exploring how childhood toys shape our memories, identity, and life stories. 🎲✨
This speech spoke my heart. It’s been a long time that I’ve recognized this pattern in people, and I’m always fond of asking friends around me about what they most liked to play in childhood to know them better 😼
One of my favourite parts of raising two children is to rediscover the magic of play with them and watch them enjoy new activities and experiences. My oldest loves puzzles, board games, science stuff, and my youngest loves crafting, plushies, doll house playsets etc. I get to play all sorts of different games and toys with them. 😊
For me it was my dollhouse. I'd spend hours playing with it. Now I'm fascinated with real estate, I'm renovating an old church, and I'm thinking of becoming a real estate agent.
I played with Ninja Turtles, and now I teach martial arts. Cowabunga.
I played with Ninja Turtles too, but now I just eat pizza all the time.
Do you eat pizza?
Maybe it's not so much the specific toys we played with, but how we chose to interact with them. Give 10 kids each an action figure and they may dress it up, or have it battling others, or be taking it apart to make frankencreatures, they make use them to make movies, or use them in science experiments, or line them up to be pretend patients, etc...
Good comment, very true!
Toys I like as a child:
- boardgames such as halma & ludo
- play-pretend creating my own "house" under the dining table using my mom's old nightgowns draping over the dining chairs, crrating privacy
- various toys in the shapes of food & veggies, cooking set, dining wares
- making clippings out of dept store brochures as if it were a report and doing "presentation" on my own as if I'm a corporate executive. I don't even know how did I know about that. Probably from movies.
- farm animals & dinosaurs
- doctor set
- laser gun (I love star trek)
- barbie & animal plushies
- those paper dolls which you can change its outfits
These are wonderful! I have many favorites among them.
It's interesting how the toys do matter because of how it draws the kid's attention, even though it matters most how the kid decides to play with said toys...
It's as if it was divided in 2 phases:
1- Interest
2-Development
When I was a kid my favorite Barbie “game” was launching Barbies off the fan blades of my bedroom ceiling fan lol. Then I was given a little handheld organizer device (that I nicknamed “Watson” lol) with educational games, thesaurus, dictionary, and an encyclopedia. I LOVED that thing lol. I would look up anything that I could, and learned. I still love learning, weird I know, so I continue to keep learning even as I am now older 😊.
LOL the Barbie launching! I have fond memories of a sleepover at my bestie’s where we set up a play tent inside her room and launched “Creepy Crawlers” off the ceiling fan, repeatedly 🐛🕷️🐞❤😂 (they were made from something like an Easy Bake oven, but for plastic bugs)
These comments are adorable 😂❤
This is really profound and fascinating.
Many lessons to learn.
I used to play with stuffed animals and pretended to "collect" them in the jungle (our hallway). Now I'm a wildlife conservationist 😄
As a kid, my sister built a lab with a functioning sink in her bedroom and would come home with snakes in her pockets. She's a wildlife conservation biologist now. :)
Same here. I'm a PhD student in ecology now. It's really amazing.
@@Undercoverbooks that’s amazing haha, and so cool she’s a wildlife biologist now 🥹🙏🏼
@@francoau1 that’s insane to know someone else did the same 😄 amazing
I think it's the other way round. Our character shapes the way we play games and what games we enjoy more
That is what I’m getting from his talk. That it’s your character that shapes how we play with an item. Your natural inclinations. That’s why imaginative, open ended toys are better than toys that bind you into using their accessories. I used to sell toys after training as a kindergarten teacher and I used to be frustrated by parents saying “yes but what does this doll do?” They wanted the baby borns with accessories (what baby sits on a potty?) where do the batteries go. It is a shame when parents and children get sucked into these items and forever buying more items for them. The film Toy Story is a good example of this as each child plays very differently with toys and the toys themselves play imaginatively. Great talk.
I'm just laying out my thoughts here without research, but I feel some of these examples were stretches, like the TMNT to doctor example, and the basketball one. I think it may be more who we are that influences what toys we like rather than vice versa, not that it could not happen.
My sister is a toy expert and loves and collect old toys from our childhood! ❤
I played with matchbox cars, bicycles, LEGOs, sporting equipment…. Never owned a console… had computer and used to play racing games and flying games.
Fast forward 15 years and I am an airline captain. Still want to be a racing driver though.
Think of it this way... you're racing other cars, their finish lines only amount to the roads... while your finish line is across oceans, and continents... with a spectacular view of the high ground(air, in your case).
@ that’s a great way of thinking about it, thanks!
I loved everything cute and taking care of it (I’m now a mother 😍), I played being strong (I did Thai boxing later in life), I would make toys myself and my favourite was to draw (I became an artist and have an associates degree❤️)
This was extremely deep and insightful, thank you.
I loved American girl dolls historical books and play, now I'm a homeschooling mom and read the books to my daughters frequently.
Tiger Woods started playing with a toy golf ⛳️ club when he was 5 months old. Hanging over his crib were a dozen Titleists. In his crib was a tin cup.
Love this reflection on how toys shape our values and play styles!
Really really interesting talk. I’ve never thought about it but as a kid I was always trying to build things. Lego, duplo, but also building a hut outside with friends or underneath the dining table. Now, after I’ve bought my first house, I’m really into constructing closets and other things, but must importantly: I’m really enjoying it. After this video I’m almost thinking of a career switch, thanks 😂😂
A very big shout out the dudes who were young lads in the late 60s and 70s. We tore apart most all of our toys...and eventually become mechanical engineers and tool and die makers.
I love being able to play with my kids, the fact that they enjoy building with Lego is a bonus for me. Justifying Lego purchases is a lot easier when it's my kids who put them on their wishlist, it's even cooler when they build new models from their own imagination🎉
I totally feel this! I am 35, and I have always been a playful, joking around, dont take life to serious kind of guy. However, after kids, stress, work, the world seems to want to steal your Natural Joy! I got back into collecting pokemon again like back in 1999, and it really gave me something to pursue and to have fun doing! Also, it's a way to connect with my kids to! I tell everyone to not let the world steal your joy! God says we should be like children in our faith. Well it's beleive that kind of just goes for everything! Kids still wonder, and dream, and beleive in the future! Adults start to just accept what is, and this is how it should always be, and just go through the motions for years! Life is full of magical challenges, so many things to inquire about! Just make sure you always stay Curios like a child so you don't become that person that everyone calls an old dog, and don't bother with them, they are to stuck in their ways!❤🎉
I wish it was that easy. It’s not. I didn’t have a play room. I was just trying to survive. I had a pet. It was all I had. I know now who I am. I know why I am who I am. It took 50 years, but I finally figured it out. Now I can heal. I am not broken; I am different and incredible. I am a behavioral health practitioner in career only.
I don’t remember any toy specifically, but I do remember the trees in our garden. They were like best friends to me. I kept climbing them.
It's hard to recall a toy. I liked sticks and being among trees and doing things outside with my friends, like building pine straw forts. Doing that or reading. But toys...playing withTonka trucks in rhe dirt and sniffing those vinyl Barbie clothes cases. Those were my favorites.
Wow! I am stunned. We have a lot in common and this viewpoint is solid spot on and relatable.
I don’t know that I ever had a favorite toy… but I definitely favored some things… Singing and playing music… And I’d often play with a tape recorder. Lol guess who became a musician 😂
Pleasant Company totally sold out to Matel. And it's such a shame that they don't publish American Girl Magazine anymore. There are so many girls growing up today who could use that magazine. There are a lot of people who want to raise their kids with limited or no technology for the first few years, who sure would appreciate it.
I think Chris Byrne is on to something here and I'd suggest he would come up with more accurate "forecasts" if he included children's favourite reading subjects, and here's why.
While I was thinking about my favourite toys, I realised it tied in with my favourite books and cartoon magazines. It will take too long to tell you on my phone, but I may update this later from my laptop.
Wow that is so interesting! Thinking back I had a few toys that really shaped me and that was primarily animal figures and plushies animals. I suppose the cuddly plushies played into my nurturing personality (I love all my animals today like they are my babies ❤), but my little plastic animal figurines where different: I used to group them up in the garden and make these elaborate scenes. I was totally obsessed with documentaries as a kid so I my head I often played animal documentary. When I think about I I suppose not only did I just love animals, but I just loved telling stories and discover the natural world. Today I love gardening and writing on my novel. As a kid I also wouldn't shut up about certain things I would always share my fascination with everyone who would dare to listen😅. I was so fascinated with dinosaurs that I would actually learn the Latin names at 6 years old! Also my sister was always p*ssed when my barbies would have dinosaurs as pets, because she felt it wasn't proper lol. Guess I don't have to mention I own a snake now😅. But especially the "telling people about my interest" is very interesting because for the past 10 years I have been working at a museum giving guided tours and doing workshops. I just love to teach, because I love to learn. Other things I did all the time as a kid where playing with playdough or twisting grasses, twigs etc. I do a lot of textile crafting today and sculpting, and generally do a lot of art.
It's just so cool to see that as a kid we actually tell the world who we are right away when we play 😊❤
I liked playing lego with my brother we had a futuristic space port and a castle. We would do great big battles between the two. We use to race cars in the passage way too. I always asked for the hot wheels happy meal instead of the my little pony one. I preferred polly pockets over Barbies but honestly don't remember playing much with either.
The thing I played with most by myself tho was my marbles; I gave them personalities and acted out battles or school room or adventure play. Later I got a dolls house so played with that more. I loved imaginative play most didn't really matter what I had I found a way to give it a story.
I trained as an engineer and moved to a new country.
This is such an interesting aspect to look at your future as well as who you are as a person - wonderful talk :)
If toys can do something, imagine what social media and gaming do to you.
Gaming is different. Social media will be the death of society
This is scary. I worry for tue upcoming generations of kids.
Interesting! I just had this same conversation the other day. A lot of kids when graduating highschool arent sure what they want to do. I have always said guidance counselors should ask what toys they like to play with or activities and help them down a path using those same creative "playful" and creative stretegies.
I used to LOVE playing with Kinects, as well as , Legos to a lesser extent. I am now an Engineer amd my personal hobby involves fabricating things for my old truck. I always believed that may be why die to the toys I layed with.
My daughter loves my webkinz from when I was a kid. She gives them kisses and hugs
I loved Russ trolls. I had a huge collection of all different kinds of them and I kept them on a built in shelf in my bedroom that I kind of converted into something of a house for them. I pretended they were a huge family with a ton of kids. I even had miniature pencil topper ones and even tinier ones, that were the infants and toddlers, that I put in a little playpen. I also had a huge toy chest full of Barbies, but I think I actually preferred the trolls over the Barbies and I ended up using most of my Barbie clothes and stuff for my trolls.
thank you he-man for getting me in the gym 💪
I never had building blocks as a kid, but I used to make mazes out of all our vhs tapes , and then I would put our pet mice in them and would let them crawl around in there and even though I’m a girl I also really loved hot wheels and remote control cars and am so glad I was allowed to I wonder how that plays a role in who I am
I didn't play toys. I WAS the toy for many people in my life. Fastforward to today, I am an ENGINEER.
if that's not the ultimate answer to: what do you wanna be when you grow up?, then I don't know what is
I loved playing fake moneys with my siblings, either pretend as banker and always tried to incorporate money in every game. I even used to cut my notebook sheets to draw money faces with denominations. Now im an accountant. Lol
I may not be the toys we get that encourages our interest in professions later on; however, I think it may be interesting
to list all the toys we have ever had as a child that we still have as adults. The Erector sets I had as a kid are still in the family
being passed around. My love of the physical sciences over biological/social/political/etc that have been my profession
made it easy to keep my Erector Sets and a game Bas-ket played with a ping pong ball and nets are what became a part
of my adult life as an Engineer. An interesting talk. My parents placed a physical limit on the number of things I could keep as they grew up in the Depression where no one had very much and their message to me was that we don't need a lot of stuff
so a portion of everything i got as gifts I needed to learn to give some to others along the way. Applied to toys and puzzles
and books. An interesting talk on toys and times we grew up.
Wonderful talk Chris!
I had an Atari 2600 when I was growing up. I played that a lot. I also played with shrinky dinks, presto magix, and choose your own adventure books. My friend/neighbor and I would ride our bikes in our court and pretend we were going through the drive-thru and ordering fast food.
@3:06 Are you my kindred spirit Chris Byrne? 🤗
I loved my Froggy stuffed animal the most, and love and work to protect wildlife to this day.
As for me, I was fond of playing video games by myself, which required me to consider strategy from all its aspects of how to win against the enemy.
Now, I’m interested in economics and I’m going to go to the university where I can learn about them and in the future I’d like to get a job which requires skills in organizing and planning about the economy.
This reminds me of Ergon (?) from Ghostbusters, who was given half a "slinkie " and then straightened it, see how that worked out.
I played with Barbies too (Im a dude) because all my neighbors were girls at the time.
Ensured I spent my teens and 20s in the friend zone lol ;)
I do love the fact that the stigma is gone and I can say that
I watched the Barbie movie and loved it. Picked out all the spots in LA I knew.
Lego... and now I'm old, still lego!
I didn't play with toys when I was young
Sure jan sticks& mud?
Same here
Nice toys but I had a T-REX. Now bow down.
I listened this talks as a podcast. I had said he is 30 but now I see😮
I loved the Smurfs, Care Bears, Transformers, Jem, Cabbage Patch kids and Barbies. I loved all the toys that came with those shows I was obsessed with TV. . I still collect Barbies and toys in general. I always loved collecting as a kid. I’m still obsessed with TV & Movies, obsessed with history and I should have become an actor. I didn’t.
I don’t remember much about my childhood 😢 I do know I loved Barney and playing outside- I would make mud pies and collect rocks, hair ties, anything weird really lol. Also had imaginary friends 😬 curious on what he would say about those
I loved to play with Barbie’s and Polly pockets. My two main Barbie’s had husbands and a lot of children as well as a pet. I can still remember all my Barbie’s and kids names. I loved decorating the Barbie house and dressing the Barbie’s in different outfits. I also loved playing legos because I could build a house however I wanted. I would be a lot happier with my current reality if my childhood play was a manifestation of what my life is like now. I don’t have a house, husband or children.
I was wondering if he was going to address the propaganda of toys. When I walk past an aisle of toys for boys, I see loads of guns, weapons, and action figures. I played with a lot of them myself and one of my dreams as a boy was to join the military and be a soldier (thank God I didn't). How many toys subtly point young men in the direction of serving the empire? I also think I'd be scared to be in a closed office with this man.
c'mon man, for most boys, if they don't have "guns, weapons, and action figures," then they will pick up sticks and use those to fight each other. Sure there is an element of "propaganda" to any given toy, or any product for that matter, but we don't have to pretend that we are somehow forcing violence on them. Boys just often like play fighting, and that's ok.
(STRONG) NATIONAL MUSEUM of PLAY is near my home, in Rochester, NY
I will share this video with the MUSEUM people and others in Rochester TNX MCH
===================================================================
TNX
I want to take my kids there.
Thank you !!
This the best ted talk I heard so far
when i was a kid i played with those grocery bag wires at the grocery store
I think I had duel modes of play. I had tons of Legos and after the completed sets would get destroyed by my siblings I'd turn it into something else entirely and experiment with different structures. I built my own city of the future. Big imagination stuff that I'd take further by building things out of other materials. Stick forts and twist tie sculptures that I'd fabricate stories around. Almost all of my past time activities involve making something whether it's instructed or improvised. My occupation today is a maintenance tech and that's nothing but fixing, replacing, and building with specific instruction. Then at home I'm either body building or drawing. Guess my entire childhood just spelled out in big bold letters "BUILD STUFF"
I loved all my toys. I disasemble then all. 😂 👨🔧
A very interesting concept! Got me introspecting !
I used to love setting up barbie houses, but not actually playing with the barbies. I liked making my own clothes out of scrap cloth and creating plays that I'd convince other people to act in and be the audience for. I also liked filling up water balloons, stuffing them in my bathing suit top, and playing house with my baby dolls while dressed like that.
Idk what that says about me. I grew up to be a teacher, and retired early to be a sahm. I am pretty passionate about the benefits of breastfeeding, though. Maybe there's something there?
I used to play cooking. I use the tin cap of coca cola then put it on 3 small stones beneath the cap is a small candle. I would usually gather dried leaves chop em' then imagine cooking. No wonder now that I'm an adult I really love cooking.
I preferred to play pretend. A few props, but mostly what is happening in the child's mind. I'd still play pretend if I could find a playmate. However, I didn't go into things like D&D, I write stories now. Not published, but I write.
Sticks, stones, grass, streams, and insects were my toys. Rakes, shovels, and garden hoes were toys my parents forced me to use. I don’t regret my childhood one bit and believe kids today need these toys instead of their electronics or plastic toys.
I literally thought this was Larry David when I clicked on the thumbnail. I was wondering why Larry David would be talking to us about kids toys 😂
0:35 word choice...
Outside of video games (ESPECIALLY RPGs because I was a voracious reader), I loved my teenage mutant ninja turtles, *adored* board games, and Fashion Plates. Re: board games, I'd even play by myself and try to "beat" myself without cheating lol
which is why its a shame that we are allowing video games to replace toys for children. Its no coincidence he didn't mention video games at all.
Why? Video games are just another toy and should be treated the same.
In my case: I guess video games shaped the path of my life so that I became a software developer.
@@MrSnaetch Because video games do the "heavy lifting" of play, and the heavy lifting is what makes play exhausting in the short run, and valuable in the long run. A video game is like outsourcing your own imagination.
I like playing video games too. I'm not saying video games are evil or should never be played, just that its a shame they have wholly replaced physical toys for many children. Parents don't give kid's video games because they think they are good for them, but because its easier than actually playing with their own kids. Similarly, companies don't make video games because they think they are good for kids, but because they make far more money.
Lots of people are starting to realize that our modern society has taken a dark turn - we are isolated, angry, struggling, confused, etc. Its no coincidence that an extreme popularity of video games (i.e. annually make more money than hollywood, music, and pro-sports combined) is part of this.
We created our dolls using sticks and cloths, using clay or wires to make cars
What is about never have a toy to play ? I have never had even one.
Remember when we started watching @UA-cam because we were tired of commercials on the tv. Now @youtube has become the very thing it was trying to avoid 😢 can’t even watch a complete video without getting interrupted by some commercial😡🤬
OMG you are right 👍
I was lucky as a girl to be exposed to " boy toys" because of brothers and cousins. I think i had a very diverse range of toy experiences. I wouldn't have guessed based on what i played with was what i became. But i do remember thinking baby dolla were the most dull toy you could own. Now im pregnant 😂❤
Good story here
Assuming you die before reaching adulthood, I guess they could tell your life story, yeah.
One president from eastern europe didn't have toys now he plays people like toys
I didn’t have toys I had the outdoors. Thank the fkn universe I didn’t have toys.
I used to be obsessed with Gak.... dunno wtf that says about me
Tinker Toys !!!
Who had a 1986 Cuddle Wit Musical Christmas Teddy Bear???
Chicken or egg though. Does cheating at Monopoly make you a cheater, or do inherent cheaters show their hand (scuse the pun) when playing Monopoly?
Loved my StarWars Kenner toys. We built landscapes with boxes and bedsheets, whole new storylines were created. The franchise/merchandise connection didn't limit us in any way
Forget about childhood toys, I'm sure all of us are defined by our email address we made as a kid. What was yours?
Im too old
Jonny and Jane west of Marx, and I had the ranch and all those horses.
Tôi nghĩ việc đánh giá con người qua đồ chơi thời thơ ấu có thể quá giản lược và dễ dàng bỏ qua nhiều yếu tố quan trọng trong cuộc sống, như môi trường hoặc các trải nghiệm cá nhân.