The recent issue of "Life: America's Weekend Magazine" features kids resplendent in pinks and blues surrounded by the plastic wares of modern childhood, spread out before them like worshiping minions. Clearly, some of these kids' parents haven't grasped the law of diminishing marginal returns -- meaning the more things you have (toys, princess costumes, dolls) the less sensitive you'll be to their value. In short, you will become inured to their charms, no matter how sizable.
This law can be seen on holidays and gift-giving occasions when the kids' eyes glaze over after the the 5th, 7th, 20th gift. But it can also be seen by the pile-up of unwanted toys in most living rooms. And even though some of the Waldorf-type artisan toys can seem a bit overboard and expensive, the notion of having fewer, better-made, hand-crafted wooden toys rather than loads of crappy fall-apart give-aways picked up from McDonald's makes a whole lot of sense.
Seeing all these kids surrounded by all this stuff is on the one hand cute, but on the other hand feels like looking into the small empty kingdoms of little materialistic rulers.
[Photo Credit: Life Magazine]
