September 7 marks one of the most controversial days with international status. We are talking about World War Toy Destruction Day.
This date began to be celebrated in 1988 on the initiative of the World Association for Orphans and Children Deprived of Parental Care. This organization came up with the idea of holding a world day, during which children are invited to give up military toys and exchange them for others (soft ones, construction sets, board games, cars, dolls, etc.), in 1987. The following year, the initiative was heard in different countries and gained a number of supporters who, since then, have annually participated in actions to abandon military toys.
The debate about whether and to what extent a military toy harms the child’s psyche has become a whole topic of discussion among psychologists.
Everyone remembers how, as a child, one of the favorite boys' games in the yard was «playing war game». The boys were divided into groups and, running around the yard, « shot» at each other, hid, and came up with various children's military tricks. Of course, in these games the boys were accompanied by military toys: pistols, machine guns, sabers. If the games were based on the plot of some historical film, then instead of machine guns and pistols, the guys had toy swords, spears and bows in their hands.
To be honest, it's hard to remember these games causing someone to feel aggressive, hate, or anything like that. There was a plot, there was a game, there was joy, vivid emotions and the possibility of releasing energy, which did not accumulate in the soul and did not make you think about something unpleasant. Children took examples from war heroes and looked up to their actions and exploits.
Some adults, supported by a number of psychologists, still believe that in itself, a military toy (pistol, machine gun, bow, sword, soldiers, tanks, etc.) does not have a clearly negative impact on the child. Moreover, with the right attitude towards her, the boy develops such masculine qualities as laughter, love for the Motherland, resourcefulness, the ability to protect the weak, etc. The other half unequivocally claims that a military toy, especially a modern one, which copies real weapons in detail, can cause aggression in children and instill an attitude towards death and death as something ordinary.
It is difficult to find the truth in this dispute; each side puts forward its own arguments that have the right to exist. However, the name of the world day celebrated on September 7, which contains the phrase «destruction ... toys», also looks ambiguous.
You need to understand that parents, society and the state bear great responsibility in how and what children play. Back in the last century, an example for boys were the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, police officers, firefighters, and then…. Then came action movies with a lack of meaning and variety of storyline, horror, computer games, bandits and cops, zombies, vampires, ghouls…
So is the toy to blame? It will be funny when you come home to see your son watching a thriller with his mouth open and stroking a soft toy at the same time. It will already become scary for adults... What about dolls in toy coffins, with blue faces, vampires, which are now sold everywhere? What do they generate?
Therefore, World War Toy Destruction Day – is, first of all, a reason to think about what toys our children play with and what.
Postcard «7 September — World War Toy Destruction Day»