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https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-parents-miserable-cheap-toys-high-childcare-costs-2023-12?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us
Dec 14, 2023 2:31 PM
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https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-parents-miserable-cheap-toys-high-childcare-costs-2023-12?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us
RaxianTheta
where are these cheaper toys? I am still paying 30 bucks for a transformer
RTK4740
Holy shit. Is their position it’s really about TOYS??? That’s insane.
76000BatteryLlamas
Literally just throw shit away. Walk around your house and toss stuff. Not their favorite toy, but the random plastic figures laying around
AnonMasterRace
"toys that cost $20 in 1993 only cost $4.68 today" In what fucking reality?
LincLoud
I donate toys each year to Toys for Tots and prices don't seem that low to me. I try to be reasonable; covering various interests, age groups, and that bill can add up fast. I don't even have kids! I just know what it's like to be poor.
hajimedj
I remember having toys that said "Made in Germany"
nitemayr
This is utter bullllshit, A 3.5 inch action figure costs 15 bucks, they were 5 bucks in 1995.
FoolishMortal
Wait... what was that... about the Flamingo?
mhespenheide
Point taken, but they did specifically call out the vast increase in daycare/preschool as well.
crossingdynasty
“Why won’t people have kids anymore? It must be all the toys making them miserable.”
Redshadow09
People who write articles likes this deserve to be fired and never allowed to be allowed to make an article ever again until they try living the life an average lower wage worker works. Lets see if they are going to sing the same damn tune as before.
JohnBrooks2001
My great niece just turned 2. They have literally 2 bedrooms full of her crap. She has a wealthy grandma (not mine,I wish !) who buys and buys and buys for her. My nephew could donate half her stuff and supply a toys for tots drive. Utterly ridiculous.
LegoLover58
I'm calling BS, Lego and Transformers have gotten exponentially more expensive over the last 5 years alone.
totallynotagoat
No, they're talking about super offbrand lead painted toys that you'd actively avoid buying as a parent.
hfctom
Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-parents-miserable-cheap-toys-high-childcare-costs-2023-12
Theraininspaindrainsmainlydownthemainvein
This is a joke right? I don't think you could miss the point worse if you were blindfolded, facing the other direction, and standing on another planet
Jaykob1337
As an adult who still actively collects action figures, they absolutely have NOT gotten cheaper over the years.
kohlminer
Just depends, If you are talking name brand/quality toys. Then no not cheaper, significantly more expensive. But there are so many made in china, amazon special, wish, etc. toys out there
METROlD
I do "No Toys, and overall presents obligation whatsoever" birthday parties for my kids. Works out well, because people get us books instead. Books are good. Between the grandparents and little incidental items we accumulate through the year, the house is still bursting with toys. It is a constant task to cycle them out. And then you feel bad if you get rid of the wrong thing. The other day my kid was like wheres my toy duck? He is 4. That toy was for a 6 month old. How did he even remember?!
CoachMcgurl
To be fair, a lot of the "hot toys" are collectibles or other randomized blind box stuff. You don't need to charge a lot for each one if you know the kids are going to be begging to get more to get the rare ones. Also it's not like plastic dolls and action figures cost that much to make. They're injection molded plastic that are mass produced.
Alzis
My kid has not been interested in toys since he was like 5, and even then it was just one or two.
ThePunishersVengefulBrother
Same with mine.
captainpizza
I just spent the weekend cleaning the house of my very pregnant sister (baby due tomorrow) and yeah, my nephew has WAY to many toys. And clothes. Makes me feel bad about buying him more crap for Christmas
flail
As a parent of young children, I ask relatives that give gifts to give something consumable. Candy, bath bombs, art supplies, etc. Even better if you give them a coupon for taking them to the zoo or something. My kids would be ecstatic to spend more time with their grandparents.
We have mountains of plastic shit that flows into our house from grandparents that the kids play with once and never again. We do toy purges regularly but I still feel like the walls are closing in.
quietwalker
Not a millennial, but we did have kids later in life (the twins are now 8, soon to be 9). They have too many goddamn toys. I yell at all the relatives to stop giving them more. So many, and the house was so messy and no one would clean anything that it was actually affecting me physically - I'm now on blood pressure medicine since it was like 190/110 (it's now back to 130/70).
Picture is after I came back from a business trip. Much of the house was similar.
quietwalker
After talking to their counselor, I have since packed up all their toys and put them away. They have a plastic bin they can play with at a time, but since it takes a while to get out the, effectively 10+ 40 gallon bins (plus 5-6 55 gallon garbage bags, plus other smaller boxes and bins) for them to sort, we haven't done it much. It's insane. Yet every visit, my MIL brings a huge box of thrift store junk for them.
quietwalker
So yeah, it might be a lot of things - it is for me too - but I will tell you, having too many toys is at least a possible contributing factor.
CookieMonstersCrumbs
Who's making up the bullshit that the cost of toys have gone down? Just in the last 3 years, toys have nearly doubled in price. $30-50 dollars at walmart for things that pre-pandemic was $15-20.
RedLetterMediaReactionGifs
Can confirm as a recently former walmart stocker. Those toys are incredibly expensive for how exceedingly shitty quality they are.
BlueDsc
The price of toys have gone down massively if you're comparing everything to those $1-2 pieces of plastic they sell as toys.
CookieMonstersCrumbs
Those barbies that are going for 11 dollars WERE 5 dollars just a few years ago.
necessity
I refuse to believe this is real. This is willfully avoiding the actual economic issues we're facing today and in bad faith otherwise. Or an OP from big-daycare.
JohnBrooks2001
No small children in your circle Im guessing ?
yeehawyall
Maybe a bit of an exaggeration. I'm a millennial parent and I'm definitely annoyed by the amount of toys my kids are gifted by family members. They're all cheap, poor quality, and made to be disposed of. Plus they have a bunch of pieces that get lost immediately.
SubTrout
Boy there's a fucked up pro-capitalist way to spin the buried point of "It's too goddamn expensive to do anything else but buy a cheap toy for your kids" when they put the fact that childcare is pricey as hell and Boomer parents are too old/don't care to help with babysitting.
NoNameFred
Boomers are 1946—1964, which puts them at 49–69 years old. Mid-50s isn't "too old" — really, it's too young. They're still at work, not retired, so they're not available to provide childcare during the day.
SubTrout
That's definitely true for a lot, though I'm an older millenial with parents in their mid 60's, and I have coworkers my age having their first kid. So it's a possibility depending on the age and physical health of someone's older parents. But you bring up a great point that some boomer parents can't babysit because they can't retire since nobody can afford to stop working.
misstwosense
Mid fifties? Might wanna check your math there, bud.
ZK383
In Singapore, there is a 5 story (But thin) toy museum called the Mint Museum. The owner has toys worldwide from the 1700s forward. It's amazing how few manufactured toys there were until the 1960s. One of the reasons 1940s-50s-60s toys are so collectable is because compared to today, there were fewer options. in the 1950s, presents were usually homemade, store-bought was a big deal. Lots of hand-me-downs. I'm shocked by the piles of poorly made plastic crap I see piled at people's homes. >>>
ZK383
Interesting article. Here's a link to the Mint Museum https://emint.com/about-us/
ThePunishersVengefulBrother
Growing up in the '70s the only toys from the previous generation that survived were Erector sets, Lincoln Logs, and a sketchy chemistry set
ZK383
Yes. I had a "Johnny Seven One Man Army" in 1959, my father broke down and got it for me. It was pricey, and as a December child everything was a combination birthday/Christmas present anyway. Bought one on ebay a while ago for display- 200 bucks. Times have changed! Anyway, it's the only bought present I remember, other than a radio flyer wagon, snow saucers, Flexible Flyer sled, chemistry set, erector set, all sensible long-lasting toys. The rest was clothes. Oh, and a Red Ryder BB gun!
ZK383
Learned a lesson that became valuable later from that Red Ryder BB gun. All my friends had them, 8-10 years old & we had battles on vacant lots & parks. 2 teams on patrol. I got "Smart" climbed a tree and waited. When the enemy was under me, I pointed it down & BBs rolled out giving away my position. Their whole team kept shooting at me, my team came up & joined in. Lesson for Army later- make sure you have a fallback position. Lesson about friends? They'll all shoot at you if you're vulnerable
DukePhelan
I don't consider myself miserable just jaded. But the article is spot on about our parents sending toys and other shit we ask them not to send all while being uninvolved in their grand kids lives in any meaningful way.
rainbowsigns
THIS. Shitty grandparents who don’t show up
haveanupvotegif
💯
mygodhasabiggerdick
pak0chu
That's one and a half toy per hour
mygodhasabiggerdick
darthstormer
That can't possibly have anything to do with it. It has to be cheap toys.
TheDreadPirateBoberts
i remember being extremely new to the workforce in 2009, getting a raise when the minimum wage went up, and thinking, 'cool, so this will happen occasionally'. and then it never happened again.
periwinklepanda
Same
HistoryFahrt
My uncle’s heads explode when you explain to them that if THEIR minimum wage was tied to CPI - they made the equivalent of $25/hr when they were high school graduates.
mygodhasabiggerdick
My dad was the same way...thinking you had the ability to work a full-time job AND go to University full-time like it was both normal AND doable. No, father. This isn't the 50's and I didn't get a fucking Track Scholarship to Ohio molest-a-wrestler State. I live in California and skateboard everywhere because a bus pass is too expensive and you bailed on sis and I to be with your girlfriend in Tustin, 2+hours away and left us to fend for ourselves in High School.
moodring
How many heads does he have?
darthstormer
Uncle Hydra is up to 47 heads at this point.
lelevup
Italy: you guys have mimimum wages?
theHuskySparrow
PinkyTheUnicorn2
As with some other European nations, Italy doesn't have a minimum wage but has strong collective bargaining to protect employees.
NoNameFred
Yeah, a lot of the European countries without *national* minimum wages still have several *industry* minimum wages — thanks to the Unions. That's one of the reasons they're important.
lelevup
Yes, we have Collective Agreements, but not for *all* workers.
PinkyTheUnicorn2
Far more than the United States, however.
lordmogul
meanwhile germany with 12€ ($13.50 PPP) before taxes (and that is just minimum wage by law, different industries set their own, usually higher rates) and for next year it will go up to 12.41 €
mygodhasabiggerdick
Sure, but 12 an hour is poverty level in Munich. That will barely cover rent these days. Also changes on which tax Class you have. (Higher taxes, less to pay at the end of the year. Lower, you pay more.) Also as a couple, whoever gets more, has the higher tax class, so more gets taken out. Again, good for filing at the end of the year, but sucks ass trying to save or have a nice weekend .
lordmogul
could be worse
could be 3.50
lelevup
The opposition's bill in Italy referred to 9 euro per hour... Rejected.
Kyzyl
Buried one key point: "...many Millennial parents say they can't count on their boomer parents to babysit."
pandemicmodedad
Yup. My mom is gen x but she's too busy is vacations every 3 months.
raftus
My parents are useless. But my inlaws are amazing. I only wish we didn't have to move away just to find livable wages.
aka184mommie
I did not ask for a grandchild
nerdyvet
And I didn't ask for godkids (married into them), but they're here and I help. I didn't ask for nieces and nephews. But they're here, and I help. That's what family does. Help. But, of course, family means more than blood. Which also means if you don't act like family, you may find your blood doesn't carry as much weight as you think. I do appreciate you not being a nag for grandkids, though.
basiccricket8444
Mine still work. I can't shit on them too much. Plus they all have health issues. One was just lazy. She didn't even work. So no break for ua
BadWolfDancer
cant count on Gen X parents either, they forgot they were raising human beings and not property and didnt teach us anything. just made us figure it out.
NoNameFred
Boomers can be anywhere from 49 to 67 years old. Most of them won't have retired, and (in the current economy) many are probably too busy working 3 underpaid jobs to have time to babysit.
SpranklezAndCupcakes
Your ages seem like they were calculated 10 years ago. People born after ww2 (1946) would be 77 today, with the youngest Boomers being 59. Still not all retired, but definitely not all working age
turkizno
I don't even dare to let my family babysit my rabbit let alone an actual child of my own blood. The house had to be pristine but dear lord if water needed to be changed for the animal that wasn't directly theirs.
Hashbrown123
Do you really want boomers watching your kids?
Zootsoot
Hell, my Silent Gen parents never babysat. It was all ME (Aunty). Sis was pretty well SOL when I moved away.
Zootsoot
And, btw, -I- am the one the kids have an actual relationship with. Their grandmother would just whine and nag and then expect to be carried around on a little satin pillow as “Beloved Matriarch”. Instead, everyone is SUPER relieved that she’s now gone. (including me).
If you want kids to be happy to see you- make an effort to A- be mentally healthy and B- Spend time with them! How hard is it to order pizza and watch videos one night a week so their parents get a break?
fponias
Here I thought my useless parents were an anomaly.
dataengineer
Nope
paintingagency
My MIL not only can't babysit, she needs to be babysat.
monocline
Most of the important stuff gets little more than a brief paragraph, and it's still being compared to toy prices.
EternallyIgnorant
Not just toy prices, but "parents are miserable because toys dont cost them very much money to buy"
Badprenup
While conveniently ignoring the fact that parents can and regularly do give toys away when they aren't played with anymore. We have a ritual with my partner's kid. Whenever they have a birthday or Christmas and get new toys, they pick out old toys they don't play with anymore to be donated to kids without toys (provided they are in good condition). She's 3, totally understands it, and is excited to do it. I know lots of parents that do the same thing. Less clutter, more toys for others
handsoffhandson
Geez, not all of us 70+ y.o.’s are lazy-ass. My wife and I look after our grand-daughters all the time, including overnights. Have since they were smol (now 10 & 13). B.a.a.B. - Boomers ain’t all Bad. P
NoNameFred
70+ y.o. is Silent Generation. Boomers are as young as 49 y.o.
handsoffhandson
I s’pose the time frame can be sliced differently, but even Wikipedia lists the Boomer generation as born 1946-64. I arrived in 1949. Got to be there for the day the music died (lived in Clear Lake) and was then reborn via the Beatles. Actually there on the Mall for the march on Washington (didn’t see Forest Gump tho). Helluva time to be alive!
ImHereToExplainTheJoke
Alternatively, boomer parents *can and want* to babysit, but have zero respect for your wishes as parents, or will outright disrespect you, your child, and possibly abuse them.
handsoffhandson
Dude! We’re NOT all like that, nor were my ‘greatest gen’ parents (or my wife’s).
NoRockOnlyRoll
This happened when we had kids and I never expected to get so disrespected and it to hurt so much. And they will babysit ONLY the kids, letting the dog out or feeding him is too much. But joke's on them because we rarely need a babysitter.
GoldenRamoth
haha oh yeah. Whatever traumas you picked up from mom and dad: Odds are, they haven't done the mental work to get better since they had you. So... do you want Junior to have the same issues caused by the same people?
ImHereToExplainTheJoke
I was in therapy for years. I came ready to the parent game.
noodleshoe
My kiddo has food allergies and my parents can't be bothered to remember what they are, so yeah, they have never watched my kid by themselves.
ImHereToExplainTheJoke
Oh man that’s just a “nope, you get nothing”
70m4h4wk
This is the big yikes I'm not looking forward to with my first kid on the way.
SarcasticComment
honestly ya... eating a whole lot of shit over no baptism even thought I've respected what they believe without being a jerk, they can't seem to extend that kindness to me
noodleshoe
Good luck, bestie, it's rough.
Frogblender
What? Why would you expect your parents to babysit your children. If they do that's cool but if they don't... well it's your children and your responsibilities.
Alexandraka
I was gonna comment this as well. Yes familial support is important but the comment in the article seems a bit underhanded and overgeneralised. I think people are also forgetting how the older gens keep getting older. My mom went out of her way to help a family member and their child but it took a toll on her health. Seems way too sweeping to somehow blame 'boomers' for their lack of help.
Alpharaccoonn
I feel sad you don't understand what a family is.
Frogblender
I'm not complaining about a babysitting situation I could have been 100% certain of before having children. If it's a shock to someone after they have had children that the grandparents don't have time or will to babysit then they weren't exactly close were they.
brickius
Because their your parents and their supposed to do nice things for you and support you?
Frogblender
The expectation that grandparents owe babysitting time is what shocks me. They did their part to raise you into an adult. Like I said it's cool if they do but complaining that they're not babysitting enough is really weird to me.
HelpfulCorn
You're being down voted but I'm a parent and I agree with you. My parents don't live nearby so it's moot but I certainly wouldn't have expected them to babysit all the time. That's why people get paid, it's a job. I would have expected them to help in emergencies like the time we were both horribly ill on Easter and alternating 30 minute shifts of lying on the floor with the baby.
INeverReadTheTOS
Meanwhile Lego has gone from coming in big buckets for 5 bucks to costing three fucking digits for a single build..
METROlD
At Brick Con people were selling plastic bags of builds with URL's for instructions. They were super cheap too.
DarkwingDuc
Yeah, but there are actually good knockoffs these days that can be had for cheap. The only reason to pay premium prices for Lego is to get the licensed kits for things like Star Wars or architectural kits. And that appeals to adults as much, if not more, than kids. And, while sometimes cool, they kinda defeat the original purpose of Lego, b/c instead of using imagination to freely create, you're following instructions to build something designed by someone else.
quietwalker
As someone who grew up in a not-very-well-off family, let me tell you, the prices for lego have always been luxury rates. We occasionally got one of those small 100-200 piece kits for a birthday or xmas present, but any volume came as a hand-me-down from friends of my parents when their kids outgrew them/went to college.
nomunnywunnytilugetthebunnyhunny
Maybe duplo.
Jordan7831
Lego is expensive because of the licensing cost and because people will pay that piece unfortunately. Good thing there are aftermarket companies out there with improving quality. Some competition is sorely needed.
Dannyalcatraz
My “Lego years” were the 70s-80s. I rarely got a fancy dedicated design kit- I remember a Lunar Lander, a construction site and a Formula racer kit- and mostly got the generic sets. And I never actually built the sets as desi. I had gotten those sets because I wanted particular pieces. The construction set, for instance, had hinged pieces for making vehicles like cranes. I used the hinges to make X-Wing/Star Fighter (Buck Rodgers) mash-ups.
crossingdynasty
Hey now, those licensing fees for gigantic franchises won’t pay for THEMSELVES!
cnphilli
Adults will happily spend a lot of money on themselves. Lego sells a lot of sets to adults. So the prices go up.
delecti
*New* LEGO was never that cheap. Sets have gotten bigger and more complicated, but per piece the price hasn't changed much over the decades.
hushpuppyextraordinaire
I remember them always being expensive I saved lawn mowing and raking Money for a year to buy a set in the 80’s it was like $100 , cosmic fleet Voyager I think.
NovaCollision
I loved the M-Tron sets, but I can understand why magnets aren't included in kids toys anymore.
MH9009
When I had my first kid I was "regifted" a tote of my childhood Lego. There's a bucket in it from 1996 that was $20 at Walmart for 950 pieces. Today that $20 will get you half that many pieces. The licensed stuff everyone wants is way worse. $20 might get you a 100 piece Star Wars set
MyCakeDayOnlyComesOnceEveryFourYears
Accept that isn't true. LEGO was never $5 a bucket. The average cost of a set is higher these days but there's 2 major reasons. 1) On average sets have more bricks in them than 30+ years ago, that makes them more expensive. 2) There are also more larger sets now than 30+ years ago, this drives the average price up. The truth is that are hundreds of sets under $25 bucks.
Sliprunner
I remember looking at the SSD...and felt outright offended by the price. Trying to find an alternative led to a knock off that is a fifth the price, albeit...now my model space is to full to actually build it
pixelsnader
Man its like 70 bucks that is not so bad man come on man ....
Sliprunner
Wrong one, that's the mini one. Your looking for "LEGO Star Wars Super Star Destroyer 10221" That was a much larger scale one they had, now discontinued, that was absurdly expensive. Was like 990$ IIRC, being discontinued it's value on second hand markets has obviously further exploded.
Ronelyn
Haven't found any knockoffs that held up to Lego's quality, especially in terms of fit, but the Legos I bought as a child fit perfectly with the bricks I buy today.
SteamPriest
Lelebrother, Kazi, Sembo, and Jie star, are very good quality, both fit and material. Lwck, Hsanhe, and Leyi have good fit but slightly cheaper feeling plastic. And MOC blocks, Blocks brick moc, and Sluban have good material but sometimes the fit is a little loose.
nemocares
Yep, the consistency is just amazing. As is the durability. Lego I got over a third of a century ago has been bouncing around the extended family and after three or four kids in between has now ended up with my nephew. The friction fit still works.
Sliprunner
Aye, gonna be difficult to compare to Lego's quality, got megablocks mixed with my legos and there's always that slight difference between em on fit and firmness. Knockoff I found for SSD was from 'Mouldking', haven't inspected it properly but seems like it's not bottom shelf quality at least.
Rathan5
I didn’t know Lego made a solid state drive…
Valase
They don't. They just provide the overpriced colored pieces and an instruction and you'll have to build it yourself.
paintingagency
> big buckets for 5 bucks ... when was that again?
Ghlargh
I don't know about 5 bucks, but they have sold buckets of basic primary color blocks very cheaply now and then.
GlenL
That rubbermaid bin your dad got at a yard sale
SmashedYourGlasses
Maybe the 80s. I had an enormous amount of Lego and we were not rich.
FurToaster
1987, I was 4years old... I was required to clean up the buckets my lil bro poured out....
We had 4 of these buckets because they were CHEAP..
Back then K'nex were much more expensive.
pixelsnader
Given that knex was invented in the 90's, I can imagine it was expensive 5 years before it existed.
FurToaster
80's ... 90's ... pretty much the same... shit didnt change until highspeed internet ruined life as it used to be... dialup was fine.