Some Thoughts About Children

One day, my aunt and I were talking about dolls which is produced by PTMI, the company where I'm working now. The dolls are distributed out from Indonesia. Even in here you will find dolls which are produced in Indonesia, the quantity is not as many as the export one. Then, at that time we concluded that the dolls are not so happening here.

Then, we were thinking about what I will tell you next. If the dolls are not happening in Indonesia, then what toy does girls in Indonesia always play with? Cooking set toys? Nope. I think children at this time, including girls, like to play computer games or other electronic games like PS3, XBox, etc. rather than games or toys that can make them interact with each other. That's not a good sign.

Here is my opinion about why it can be happened? First, electronic games are much more interactive than dolls. Playing with electronic games gives the player feedbacks, so that the players can then act based on those feedbacks. When children plays with dolls, the dolls can't give them that kind of feedback. A doll is a passive toy.

Second, a doll's price is sometimes as worth as 3 times dishes, even more than that. Why is the price so high? It can be happened because of some reasons, like the making process complexity (now I can imagine since I work in a doll manufacturer) and the distribution cost (especially when the dolls are imported).

Third, the residence where the children are living doesn't provide any place to play with each other. What I mean here is like a play court, where children can meet with each other and then play together. Rather than making a play court, the developers like to build shopping centre. Okay, sometimes there's a place like "Timezone", but it's definitely NOT a play court in a right definition (the phrase "right definition" doesn't sound good, anybody can help?).

Is this condition good for the children psychology? My aunt said NO, it's not. Children need to interact with each other. They need to learn to be with others, learn about someone else character, learn how their acts can give impacts to others, and many more. Others will give them feedbacks, so they can improve their action while interacting with each other in the next days.

So, what are the solutions? First, I think this is primary, all parents have to encourage their children to play with other children. It's okay if the children like to play with electronic games too, but sometimes they need to play with others. Take the children out to any play court, so they can meet another children and play together.

Second, for all developers, please kindly help these children. Build more play courts for them. It doesn't have to be a big one, but not too small too. And it doesn't have to be too many, but at least there's one play court in one residence.

Hope this post won't be just a post. Perhaps you, readers, have another perspectives. Please feel free to give some feedbacks.