Photo via Lego.com
Researchers from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand have released a study proving what any sentient parent living in the real world already knows: Lego is no longer the warm and cuddly, gender-neutral, inspiring and creative Scandinavian toy block-building brand we all knew and loved in the 70s and 80s. Nope, in an effort to make their toys more interesting (read: highly marketable) to small, innocent children, Lego have over the past several years engaged in what the researchers called ?an arms race? to grab the attention of kids in the over-stimulated digital age.
The peer-reviewed study found that Lego ?showed significant exponential increases of violence over time.? Weaponry is now included in 30% of Lego kits and 40% of its catalogue pages include scenes of threatening behavior, battles and fighting. As a mother, I believe it. We have two boys, Freddy and James, ages 7 and 3 respectively, which puts my household squarely in the middle of what I believe is formally known among sociologists as ?The Lego Zone.? At first, I re-embraced Lego in a fit of childhood nostalgia ? my imagination dancing with visions of rainy afternoons spent building quirky castles in front of the fire.
But Lego ? at least the Lego that?s aggressively marketed at small boys ? isn?t really like that anymore. Oh sure, you can buy the loose bricks from the still-available ?Classic? line or a nerdy architectural model of the Eiffel Tower, but my kids aren?t into that. The...