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some miniature kitchen stove might lead
to severe burns.
Serious puncture wounds have been
caused by easily broken rattles with
spikes inside, or teddy bears and stuffed
animals with eyes and ears fastened by
sharp metal pins.
A
"dart game," of course, is gener–
ally recognized
as
being dangerous and
needing proper adult supervision, in–
struction, and proper caution when
used.
Obviously, toy manufacturers don't
want to make toys which can maim or
kili. Many of them have little children,
too. But too often they, like other meo
and women, are simply careless, and
sometimes more concerned about sales
than safety
!
Toys of "Violence"
The toy counters around the world
bristle with perilous playthings and
menacing toys which may
be
as lethal as
they look.
Too many parents purchase toy
"weapons" for their tiny tots and oldec
chi ldren - toys such as cap guns, pis–
tols, toy macbine guns and tommy guns.
Tbese
toys are generally used in
games of "cops and robbers,'' "cowboys
and Indians,'" or any number of games
of make-believe violence. Children,
armed with these toy weapons, vícari–
ously act out the violence they often are
permitted to watch on television and in
tbe movies. Many parents believe such
games are harmless, innocent "fun."
But are they?
Cap pistols have been known to ex–
plode in the eyes of little kindergar–
teners. Little darts and arrows have im–
paled many moppet soldiers and Indian
warriors.
Do-it-yourself bomb kits, with cas–
ings, chemicals and fuses, complete with
instructions on making gunpowder,
have been sold on the toy market.
Should children be encouraged to act
out violence ? Should they be allowed to
play with guns or impJements of war?
Doesn't such "play" often lead to ag–
gressive behavior in later !ife, and in
effect cootribute to the rising crime rates
around the world? Doesn't such play
Jead childreo to believe that by forcibly
insisting on their own way, they can
have their own way?
The
PLAIN TRUTH
There is far too much violence sur·
rounding the lives of little children,
both on television and in the movies,
and in literature, for them to be al!owed
to play violent games thcmselves! A di–
mate of violence only fosters increased
violence!
In past years a great debate has raged
between the manufacturers of war toys
and alarmed parents who don't want
their children playing with such imple–
ments of horror. Sorne psychiatrists
have claimed that war toys are harmless;
they provide "safety valves" for kids
to
Iet off steam.
Thankfully, sorne merchants of toys
have come to grips with the problem of
selling toys, aod have determined not to
carry toy guns, war toys, or other toys
of violence.
Because of the bloody war in Viet–
nam, many people have become dis–
enchanted with war toys.
EFFECT
of Toys on Cbildren
Dr.
Carl
L.
Kline, a psychiatrist in
Wausau, Wisconsin, is one who sees the
dangets of children playing with the
wrong kinds of toys. He speaks of the
' 'Pied Pipers of Madison Avenue" who
hypnotize our children with their toy
extravaganza évery year. He mentioned
how children are offered such toys as
hand grenades, H-bombs, Aan1e throw–
ers, bazookas, missiles and assorted
weapons of macabre murder.
Are such toys harmfol to the devel–
opment of children?
Dr. Kline wrote: "Ooe of the in–
triguing facts of human psychology is
also one of the most lamentable. The
human mind is attracted to self-destruc–
tive inconsistencies. Tbis remarkable
brain will cause us to protest one pat–
tern of violent behavior while con–
doning another which is even more de–
structive."
He warns, "Perhaps our cruelest hoax
is the deceitful doubletalk to which we
expose our children. We are teaching
them
to
love war, to accept violence as a
way of life and to see killing as a per–
missible, even necessary, part of exis–
tence.''
He pointed out that childhood ex–
periences determine, to a great extent,
adult attitudes and behavior. "When
adults put their stamp of approval upon
February, 1970
H. Armstron9 Roberls
Play doesn't always hove to in–
elude toys. Teaching your child to
perform household chores can be
fun
and
constructive.
violence as the solution to conflicts, this
callous disregard for human suffering is
the tragic result. When adults give thei
r
children war toys for play, they are pro·
viding the script for tomorrow's real
life drama."
"War toys," asserted Dr. Kline,
"educate for barbarism.''
"lmmoral" Toys
In recent years, a nwnber of decidedly
immoral toy-s have been offered on the
toy market for our youogsters. Only a
few years ago a toy made its debut
which enabled children to become exe·
cutioners and "eojoy tbe thrill of the
kill" for only $1.29. The toy was a
grisly guillotine, complete with bound
prisoner, scaffóld, and a basket to catcb
the head as
it
was severed from the pris–
oner's body. A red-spattered blade made
some models of the guillotine more
".realistic.''
An official of the firm sell ing tbis toy
exclaimed: "We're in business, if it's
saleable, we'll sell it.''
Parents and concerned authorities,
however, wondered, "What must a
child think and feel
as
be repeatedly de–
capitates the man, over and over,
in
utter fascination ?" Such a toy puts a
gruesome and cheap price on human
life. Its effect on children, especially dis–
turbed children, could only be bad.
Sorne recent "immoral" toys, often