I am in Lafayette, Indiana for my box making class with the Wabash Valley Woodworkers on Friday and Saturday.

A report on NPR this morning told that this is the 50th anniversary of the start of the Mickey Mouse Club which featured the introduction by Mattel of year round television advertising of toys, and the start of a serious decline in childhood creativity. The report told of the sound making tommy gun introduced in advertising on that program. No longer would children need to make noises with their own lips or drawn from their own imaginations. The consequences of television and the decline of imaginative play are well defined. The first consequence is in the loss of “self-regulation.” When children were tested years prior to the TV and toys revolution, 3 year olds found it difficult to sit still when asked. Now 5 year olds suffer from the same difficulties, though before they could sit for as long as 20 minutes. Before, 7 year olds could sit for nearly as long as an observer would be willing to wait. No more.

Why would this be important? Self regulation is important in the decision making function in the human being and grows from private speech… the internal dialog in which new ideas are discussed and developed within the mind before being followed by activities testing those ideas in the real world. When the store bought tommy-gun makes all the noises, diminishing the personal creativity involved in play, the consequences are a dumbing of the imagination, creativity and intellect.