Watching the "8 Minutes of Pure 1980's Commercials" was a trip down memory lane! I was born in 1981, and I am the quintessential 80's child! Bare with me while I take YOU down my memory lane! I took notes while the YouTube clip was playing...and wow, how great were those graphics back in the 80's?!
My first favorite part of the YouTube clip was the snack size candy bars. I would have loved to have invented the snack size candies...they are all the rage even still today...especially with Halloween that just happened. But how funny are the kids who want to only go to houses that give away the full size or king size candy bars! Regardless, the "Three bites and done" was a great new invention to the candy world. The next part I loved was the CALIFORNIA RAISINS! I had all the California Raisin plastic figurines and I jammed out to their jingle, "I heard it through the grapevine." I remember my brother and I watching the Raisin movies...both cartoon and the claymation videos! The third part of the the commercial clip I loved, was the Toys'R'Us jingle. As soon as I heard those opening musical notes, I sang right along! Who doesn't remember that catchy jingle?! And going to Toys'R'Us as a kid was a special treat. I remember walking up and down the isles wanting just about one of everything, but not ever being able to buy all of what I wanted. To this day, I swear I am traumatized because I wanted a Teddy Ruxbin more than ANYTHING in the world...and I never got him. I swear this kind of stuff sticks with you! I may have not gotten the Teddy Ruxbin, but I was lucky enough to have Cabbage Patch Dolls! As a kid, I guess I did not know that having a Cabbage Patch Doll was such a big deal! I hope my mother was not part of this mass chaos!
I guess the craze of Cabbage Patch Kids laid the groundwork for the craziness for Tickle Me Elmos. I guess back in the 80's, young children saw their parents acting like crazy banshees, and that gave them the green light to go crazy over the Tickle Me Elmos for their own children today!
Anyhoo, back to the Commercial Clips...GhostBusters! My brother had the Ghost mobile Station wagon car, and I used to "Borrow" it for my Barbies. The MatchBox Cars were totally awesome and we would build great tracks and car wash stations and play with them for hours! Not to mention, I have a 5th grade student today in class who uses Match Box cars to calm himself down. No joke! I found this info out from his Mother last year, and I am "borrowing" some of my brother's old match box cars for my current student to use in class now. If he starts to boil over, I can just point in the direction of where the cars are kept, and he knows to go play with them for a few minutes to help him calm down before he boils over like a volcano...talk about the past meeting up with the present! And last, but certainly not least, Charlie Brown Thanksgiving....what a classic! I showed this DVD to my students last Thanksgiving, and they have already asked to see it again...we are building traditions even at school! In one of the Toy'R'Us clips, there was a little boy on a Big Wheel...this brought back many memories for me!
Click on this link to see my All-time Favorite Childhood Toy, My Cabbage Patch Big Wheel! I used to ride around my neighborhood and keep my Pound Puppies in the basket of my big wheel...I thought I was REALLY cool! Wow, I was special! http://images.quickblogcast.com/18684-17848/bigwheel.jpg
So now, the connection to Pop Culture and our class...all kids play with toys, and have been playing with toys since the beginning of time. Kids have the creative juices to be able to turn a cardboard box, or pile of rocks into the greatest toy ever. How many times have you bought a really cool, and hip toy for a family member and he/she is more interested in the box or wrapping paper that it came in?! Crazy that we would spend the money on the gift right, but we still do. And with Black Friday right around the corner, there are already specialist making speculations on what the Hip, New, Must Have toys will be for this holiday season.
Ironically, these hip, new, must have toys find their way onto commercials during Saturday morning cartoons...the very same cartoons that kids watch religiously. Advertising companies have become master minds at hitting their target audiences. Pitch it to the kids, the kids will bug their parents until they buy it, and the parents with money will buy it to stop hearing their kids whining for the toys. The only twist in this whole master plan, it that the parents know how much their kids want a certain toy, so they have the upper hand and can get their kids to do just about anything in order to get that toy...chores, behave, get better grades...you parents know that I mean...it's a mean, mean trick!!!
These must have toys get brought into some schools either during share time, or being snuck into classrooms hidden inside of backpacks. I have seen some classrooms set up "Show & Tell" time as "Brag & Boast" time. The "rich" kids bring in their newest, flashiest toys to rub in the faces of their peers that they do not have it. It can be really sad, create jealousy and animosity, and even promote stealing...and that is why I do not set up my sharing time in this way.
For my sharing time in class, each child has a certain day that he/she is able to share with the class. This is not a surprise and he/she has the choice to share or not to share. What the kids are able to share helps us get through share time without hurting any one's feelings. Here is our criteria in class: For your share day, you can bring in: a photo, your favorite book, something found naturally in nature, or verbally tell a story about a past experience. The hard and fast rule is, if you can find the item you want to share in the toy isle of Target, than it is not OK to being to school and brag about it. This criteria has helped us have interesting share time. We have seen pics of family members alive and deceased, we have seen scrap book pages, and we have heard some incredible real life stories...all because the kids know that Toy and trinkets are not OK to share. I suggest switching up your share time criteria to something similar to our classroom, if you are finding that there has been problems with your current share time...just a thought!
Regardless of what can be shared during our share time in class, our students are growing up with fast-paced technology leading the way. Toys for kids and adults alike need to keep getting smaller, faster, more cost effective to be out on the market. No one wants the old version, every one wants to be the first to get his/her hands on the new toy that just hit shelves. And if you think I'm crazy...think about it, toy cars can not just be pushed by boys on their knees anymore, the toy cars need to drive over piles of dirt, spin, and climb walls all from a remote control...and baby dolls can't just open and close their eyes, instead they need to talk, cry, and soil their pants before a little girl will think of begging her parent(s) to buy it for her! It is a popularity contest in schools with clothes, shoes and what you eat...but there is also a hidden popularity contest with toys among children and adults. Ask yourself, what would you be willing to do (or what have you already done) to get your hands on the new, must have toy? I hope that none of us are willing to be crazy like the adults on the above Cabbage Patch clip, but who really knows just how far some one will go to get a deal and make their child (or even himself/herself) happy??? Happy shopping on Black Friday...May the best shopper win!
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