The kids are smarter nowadays; they are not as dumb as we were when we were of their age. As kids as far as I remember I was very dumb and hardly spoke anything during my initial years of schooling. My class teacher always complained that never spoke anything I class and my handwriting was very shabby and she could never clearly make out what I used to write in my books. Well I am sure this would not be the case in today's children as they are a lot smarter than we actually were. Today's kids can give you answers which you would never expect them to give you and they learn and observe small things which we would be surprised to know if we saw them doing it or telling it to us. They can memorize so many new words, new concepts and learn long rhymes and poems taught to them in school. They love to go to school and make new friends and also spend time with them.
one of my friend's daughter bought home a small kid boy and declared in front of everybody that he is boyfriend and everybody please accept him if you can. Would you believe me of I told you that the age of the boy and the girl was 4 years. The mother was shocked and laughed at the same time as she could not believe her ears. Well they did accept the little kid then so he came to play with her daughter every day.
So just imagine that if the kids of today's life style are as smart as we as parents have to one step ahead of them and keep pace with them in walks of life. The toys which we give the kids to play with are the kind of toys which we played with but I would recommend motor toys for this generation as that would complement their already developed skills and also help to develop new ones.