Something sad happened while I wasn't looking. I became childless, or nearly so. You know how I write about my "little guy"?
He's not so little. He's 8. Not so long ago, an 8-year-old was a child.
No more, not if you believe marketers of kids' products. The new word for kids ages 8 to 12 is "tween," as in "between" childhood and adolescence. Don't believe me?
Google it. I discovered that my child is no longer a child while looking online for Christmas gift ideas. References to "tweens" popped up repeatedly in articles and on retailers' Web sites.
A tween is like the preteen demographic I remember, except today's tweens are younger. A preteen used to be 12, 11, maybe 10, but at least a double-digit age. Now tweens, 8 to 12, not only aren't considered children in the marketing world, they're portrayed as having no interest in traditional toys.
Eight-year-olds don't want toys? I remember lots of Christmases when I was secretly disappointed by a package containing some boring sweater. Tweens attracted the notice of BusinessWeek magazine a year ago.
In an article published Dec. 12, 2005, BusinessWeek's William C. Symonds chronicled this shrinking of childhood: "Toymakers haven't had much luck with tweens - kids aged 8 to 12 - in recent years," Symonds wrote.
"Once upon a time, children were fascinated with toys until they were 12 or 13. But these days, kids are getting older younger." If not toys, what?
BusinessWeek said the toymaker Hasbro figured it out first, introducing durable kid versions of "toys" adults use: the V-Cam video camera, cell phones and portable DVD players. "I think it's sad. I think kids should be outside playing more," said Carole Kubota, an associate professor of education at the University of Washington's Bothell campus.
"I grew up on a 200-acre strawberry farm on Bainbridge Island. The freedoms I had as a kid are gone. They're losing touch with nature," said Kubota, 60, whose field is science education.
Her grown children had Nintendo video games as kids, but Kubota said today's technology is so advanced "it's totally different." "Now the games are just unbelievable. Technology has sort of taken over," she said.
Asked about a smart gift for tweens, she suggested a simple microscope. "They're natural little scientists. Our job is to nurture that curiosity," said Kubota.
Technology isn't all that appeals to kids this age. A Barnes Noble gift guide for "tweens and teens" lists books, DVDs and music that in earlier times would be aimed exclusively at teenagers. The Disney Channel's "High School Musical," now on DVD, has been a phenomenal hit with kids way too young for high school.
Marilyn Cohen is a research professor in the University of Washington's College of Education and director of the Early Childhood-Teens Communications Project. Her focus is media literacy for kids. Her research has found that kids are exposed to as many as 2,500 advertisements per day from the TV, the computer and other media.
"They can go onto Web sites dominated by their favorite characters. Products are marketed with them in mind. Marketing continues throughout their day," Cohen said.
It's unrealistic, she said, to totally tune out TV and other technology. How kids do everything from homework to connecting with friends is changing rapidly. "Technology is burgeoning everywhere," she said.
"These are the ways they are learning to express themselves," she said. Rather than use technology to mimic popular culture, Cohen hopes kids will find what's unique to them. Looking at it that way, perhaps it's not so bad for a 9-year-old (notice I didn't say 8-year-old) to have a sturdy little video camera.
Maybe today's camera is like the box of paints from my childhood. Asked about the best gifts for kids, Cohen is decidedly low-tech. "The biggest gift families can give their kids is time," she said.
"Do some of the things they don't normally have a chance to do. Get an old cardboard box and make a house together. Take something to someone less fortunate.
"All the things children need cannot be purchased." Hear that? She said children - not tweens.
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
News RSS