Have you heard of the new fad spreading like wildfire among
children these days?
It’s called a fidget spinner. And, it seems like every
child absolutely must have one. Like most fads fidget spinners seemingly just
appeared out of thin air this year (though they actually date back to the early
‘90s) and have already reached epidemic status among children. My place of
business started carrying these “toys” this week and placed them right by the
cash registers were parents with children needing to be like all the others at
school are suckered into spending $8 on a piece of plastic around a bearing
that simply spins. Of the toy fads I’ve seen over the years this is frankly the
dumbest one.
The idea of fidget spinners, though, was to help children
with learning disabilities like ADHD or anxiety. Watching the fidget spinner go
around and around supposedly can help children to focus if they have issues doing
so. The only issue now is that every child seemingly must have one, whether
they have troubles focusing or not (unless every child these days has these
issues, which honestly wouldn’t surprise me). And, these fidget spinners have
gone from being tools to help focus, to distracting children altogether. I’ve
heard numerous reports from teachers, both as customers at my work and within
my family and friend base, decrying these objects as nuisances. The fidget
spinners are keeping children from learning, rather than helping them to do so.
Many schools have outright banned fidget spinners from the classroom, as a
result.
I was dismayed over the last couple of days at work seeing
these items sell like hotcakes. Not only because I believe companies are taking
advantage of children and their parents in selling them what’s essentially
cheap crap for $8 – and some customers say they’ve seen places selling them for
as high as $35 – but because I know these toys are merely making children
dumber. And, I do blame the parents for this.
Instead of buying your child an $8 piece of crap that’s
likely either going to get lost or them in trouble and certainly will distract
them from learning if taken into the classroom how about getting them something
that will help them learn or grow in life, and likely will be cheaper in the
long run. Why not supply your kid with paper and pen or markers and spark some
creativity in their minds? Why not buy your kid a book so their imaginations
grow, as well as their vocabulary, so they’re not likely to become adults with
high school or even college diplomas unable to tell the difference between “there,”
“their” and “they’re” or “accept” and “except.” How about spending $2 on a
baseball and taking them outside for a catch so they can get much-needed
exercise and spend quality time with you or their siblings and friends.
Parents these days don’t seem to care as much about the
education of their children as much as they do keeping their children
distracted so that they aren’t a nuisance to them. This is why the idea of
fidget spinners and seeing so many of them selling and the faces of kids who
have had parents purchase these for them this week has bugged me severely. I
see it as an example of this country continuing to dumb itself down and the
part we’re playing in it ourselves.
