subject: There's More to Kids' Gifts than Just PSPs [print this page] There's More to Kids' Gifts than Just PSPs
It was only a straw poll. Yet the results were rather sad. The kids in the class were only six or seven, but the majority of the 30 considered their PSPs as their most prized possession. And playing on it was what made them happiest. Just a small number of the children bucked the trend, suggesting they were most contented with their family, playing football, or when looking after a baby sister.
The other noteworthy thing was the kids who loved their PSPs had been bought them - almost exclusively - for a birthday or Christmas. On top of that, a decent chunk of the remaining few seemed determined to acquire a handheld system in the near future. It seems nowadays kids' gifts, indeed a kid's life, need to involve Sony or Nintendo somewhere along the line.
Mind you, when my teacher fianc?e told me, I wasn't totally surprised. I remember sitting in a restaurant one evening, watching on as a kid no older than ten sat glued to his handheld Sony. His parents and peers were apparently a million miles away as he proceeded to shoot and pillage everything in sight. As I chowed down on my steak, three things sprung to mind. One, how the hell did his parents think the game was appropriate? Two, what does it say that this boy was far more interested in maiming animated strangers than socialising with real kids sat at the table? And three, I'm sure I'd read that total immersion in violent video games was a leading factor in the Columbine Massacre.
I'm no psychologist, granted, but this kid's behaviour just seemed wrong. "Put it down for five minutes," I thought. Talk about football with the bored kid sitting next to you. Something, anything, just stop killing people for a second. Now, I'm only assuming he'd been given it as a present, but it does make you wonder what's happened to children's gifts that don't involve staring emptily at a four-inch screen.
If you share my sentiments and you're keen to avoid a case of Grand Theft Childhood, there remain a whole host of unusual children's gifts. They're a glorious two-fingered salute to Final Fantasy, blue hedgehogs and Doom. Better yet, they're all available as personalised children's gifts, with everything from Spider-Man and Toy Story 3 books, to football and rugby money boxes. Plenty of cuddly toys are also in there, as well as wall-art canvases and lunchboxes.
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