Do modern toys destroy childhood creativity?

[cliche]

One thing I have to say is also tampering with children's creativity is the people who enforce health and safety.
A few years ago I think they banned playing conkers in the playground because "it is too dangerous", then there was someone trying to ban children selling cakes in school at a bake sale because it could "give them food poisoning". Not to mention all of the health scares that are reported on the news that scientists have apparently researched... "breast milk will make your baby fat" then a couple of months later "breast milk will make your baby more intelligent" (MAKE UP YOUR MIND!!!). Yes sometimes they do have a valid point but half the time they point out the obvious "the sky is blue", "if you put your hand into a fire it will get burnt". It really makes me wonder why the government are putting aside so much of our tax for these scientists who seem more like clean freaks who want to wrap this generations children up in cotton wool.
/rant

 

[Saigonnus]

I don't know as this helps or hurts the basis of the discussion, but I grew up fairly poor and my parents couldn't afford very many toys for me or my sibs, so we didn't have a whole of things to "work with" when it came to exercising our imagination, but I'd like to think mine is fairly extensive considering. We'd played outside with our friends and often created "live-action" roleplaying scenarios using sticks or whatever wwe could find around the neighborhood as "props" and the scenarios were everything from a medieval adventures stalking a dragon to a cops and robbers hunting down the bad guys who'd just robbed a bank.

My mom would read to me; from whatever she happened to pick up, even before I was born and of course after and as such I could read even before I went to preschool; so it gave me a leg up on the other students who were learning their ABCs while I was reading Dr. Seuss. I'd like to think that started me off the right way on my thirst for learning and exercising my creativity.

I don't think it has much to do with whether a child has toys or not or how good those toys are; just how innately intelligent and imaginative they are and how much their brain thirsts for that knowledge. I do think that parents who are supportive of their children's hopes and dreams and allows them to utilize their creativity are better than those parents that funnel all of their kid's energy into something they may not enjoy or like much (because they want their son/daughter to be a doctor or whatever) or put their kids into so many "extracurricular activities" that they don't have time for themselves at all. Not having time to exercise your creativity is the worst thing a parent could do for their kid.