I think the idea that we should pay more for is true for toys and many other consumer goods.  While it is nearly impossible to completely avoid cheap toys made in China, my husband and I have made a concerted effort to buy our daughter fewer good quality toys.  Our daughter received only one toy from us for Christmas: a sled.  But it is a beautiful wooden sled made in Canada that she'll enjoy for many years and then probably be able to pass down to her own kids.  It's the constant demand for cheap goods (toys and otherwise) that has driven the Walmart-ization of America.

Well, well, well, are we all just a little more superior than everyone else.  

Where are we living????  America or the good old USSR????  We should pay more for stuff because you all think that kids are getting too much???  Perhaps I should invite you over for dinner so YOU can make sure MY children are eating a balanced diet, or perhaps you could make sure their clothes are of your liking.  

My kids go outside and play with their friends.  When they aren't out front riding in their Little Tykes cars or bikes or just running, we go to the park.  Or our backyard--we have a pool and a swingset.  During the winter, we build forts and have snowball fights.  And we've even went out in the rain in our raincoats and boots.  

Do my kids have a ton of toys??? Yep.  They even play with stuff my mom saved from my childhood.  Do I buy them cheap stuff??? No.  Unfortunately, our oldest didn't play much with the stuff we bought for him until he was six.  He's autistic and didn't "get it."  

There are people out there just trying to make ends meet.  So, their children don't deserve toys because you all have appointed yourselves the official lifestyle czars???  I don't think so.  If you don't want to buy something for your little ones, then just say no.  But don't in a million years think that you should be telling anyone else how to live their lives.  

I don't like WalMart, Target rocks.

Yep, the 80's.  Those were some hard times, weren't they?  Five miles in the snow, up hill both ways, with holes in your shoes just to get to school where we ate nothing but moldy bread for lunch.

And very well said Sheri.

What a weird suggestion! While we're at it, let's add a $5 tax to every box of sugar bombs cereal. That will surely clear up the childhood obesity problem, right?

I admit, I am a confessed toy-snob. I loathe the clutter of cheap half-broken plastic toys we have accumulated. I'm always looking for the so-called "classic" toys, wooden, built-to-last, etc. But puh-leez! Can't we let parents buy what they want for their own kids? I don't think it's fair to fight this particular culture war on our kids' turf. Do we really want to politicize TOYS?

Debating the merits (and consequences) of cheap goods in the global economy is a worthwhile topic, but one better left to grown-ups. For example, maybe mommy and daddy want to debate whether they really "need" to upgrade to the newest cell phone, PDA and iPod every 6 months!

Right on Sherri!

The level of totalitarian socialist nonsense this sites posts as "thoughtful parenting advice" is maddening. It comes from the deluded heads of upper middle class, secular, over educated(and thoroughly indoctrinated) urban dwellers with at most one or two kids who look down their noses at those of us not part of their world. How dare we decided to buy our children more plastic China-made toys than the elites have dictated as proper!

"Toys are so cheap that it's hard to rationalize not buying them," she writes. "But perhaps we need to raise the price of toys so that parents and children learn to value them again."

It is very easy to rationalize not buying something you don't need (and some can't afford.)If you lack the self control to say "No," don't punish those adults who are capable of behaving like mature adults.

I completely agree with Mandy and Sherry on this one, but I don't see what being Secular has to do with this topic in the least. Could we keep the religion bashing out of this.

"First of all, in this economy, I don't think we should be encouraging companies to raise the price of anything. If things continue the way they are going, the price of virtually everything, toys included, may increase anyway. But even if that happens, it doesn't really solve the issue at hand because the Americans who make the most money -- and who are probably more likely to be the prime offenders of excess toy buying -- will no doubt continue their Barbie and Lego-purchasing sprees. Meanwhile, the middle- and lower-income families who can only afford five or six toys a year at most won't be able to afford anything for their kids. That doesn't seem fair."

Well said, Jen. This is what many of us were saying in our comments to Rachael's post about gas prices. Those who are really being excessive will continue to do so, and the high prices won't hurt them much.

While I agree in principle that people of means certainly have the ability to buy their kids more stuff than people with lesser means--what can I say, a free market economy is the price we all pay for not living in a socialized state.  But I also don't see that any child is deprived if their parents, as Manjari pointed out, can only buy them five or six toys a year.  Remember that just a generation or two ago, kids didn't have the vast quantities of stuff that today's kids do.  If you don't believe me, ask your parents and grandparents.  A child might have 1 or 2 dolls or a couple of toy trucks, a set of blocks or Lincoln logs maybe a jump rope and a trike.  They received oranges and nuts in their Christmas stocking.   They never felt deprived and neither will our kids if we stop buying so much cheap crap that'll all wind up in a landfill eventually anyway.  Furthermore, if we were all willing to pay just a few dollars more for each toy, maybe, [gasp], they could be made right here in this country instead of in China, giving thousands of jobs back to those very same economically disadvantaged parents who want to be able to give more to their kids.

I don't mind spending money on my kids toys and yes, if they were all made here, I'd be willing to pay a few more bucks on them.  But, anon2, that wasn't the point made by the woman who wrote the artice.  She wanted the price to go up because it was her personal belief that kids today have too much stuff.  Quality is one thing--raising the price so that we all can accomadate her expectations of what is too much is an entirely different matter.  I don't want to pay $30 for a toy that I could purchase for $25 because some woman believes my kids have too much.  That isn't her call.  My parents had two babies that died before my brother and I were born.  We hit the jackpot of toys and the like.  My oldest son was an only child for almost 13 years.  He had a ton of toys, as do his brothers.  But that is OUR business.  That said, just because it is expensive, doesn't mean it isn't made in China.  Four words--Thomas the Tank Engine.  (wooden set)

Sheri: I will definitely grant you that I would not be thrilled to pay more for the same thing.  I was assuming, perhaps wrongly, that with the increased cost would come increased quality.  If the $25 toy gets marked up to $30, I expect a better quality toy and/or a safer toy.  If it's the same lead paint-covered, China- made cheap toy and the extra five bucks is just going to line the pockets of the toy company, I completely agree with you.