Technology is changing landscape for playtime.

This certainly seems to ring true. There is no precedent for our generation's amount of leisure and variety of leisure activities. Because of the great number of 'boomers,' we've had a disproportionate effect on hobbies. While I expect there will continue to be younger people interested in toy trains, we can expect the great majority to be 'into' other, different things. I hope we can continue to play with our trains and/or collect them for our own enjoyment, and use forums like this to continue to 'talk' about them.

I'm 32 years old not sure if that is considered young by the article standards, but I enjoy my 3 rail O scale collection and my Lego 9v train collection. My 2 yo son also shares my passion. So I'm doing what I can to keep it going!

Being 30 years old, I also enjoy 3 rail O-Scale, and My 5 year old also enjoys playing with Legos, and watching my trains go around the layout.

Have you played the Grand Theft Auto video game!? Technology is hard to beat. lol

But, for sure, when my now-grown children start giving me grandchildren ... the little nippers *will* have fun trains and various "building toys" to use at my house. 

Here's my take on the the situation....

Children today do not know how to 'play.' Partly because we (as parents) have allowed our children to become mesmerized and occupied by iPhones, iPads, Nintendo DS, Switch, Playstations etc. It's all 'instant gratification' . The other side is having our children participate in some form of organized play - 'playdates', soccer, football, martial arts, the list goes on.

With the proliferation of single-family and townhouse developments, no space is designated for a neighborhood park. Along with the awareness of possible threats to our children, we seldom let them out of our sight for the most part, unless it's someone or someplace we trust. it used to be fun to gather at the neighborhood park for a pick up game of football, baseball, tag or ride bike through the neighborhood. 

I see this with my own son who is nine - play consists with what is usually the latest rage - fidget spinners, minecraft or whatever is coming down the stream. Once I get him away from the device, he is sometimes at a loss, but he slowly goes to his Legos - and starts to play. Then he integrates Hot Wheels into the mix, then plastic army men.  I think as parents we need to not let children get so absorbed by the tech and devices and teach them to, or let them figure out how to creatively play. I once took away the iPad and Nintendo for a week - and he discovered a passion for drawing, then drawing cars, that graduated to building model cars. He recently became more interested in my train layout, like he was when he was younger - and being the curious child, is more interested in the mechanics and operation. 

The problem, from my viewpoint, is not the electronic toys themselves. The problem is that either parents don't want to be parents, or simply do not have the time.

Depending on what statistics you want to believe, nearly half the nation's children are being raised in a single parent household. Single mothers are not a big market for involved and costly hobbies like Legos or trains. And for the kids that have a mother and father, many of these are "working" parents, meaning "free" time is not what it used to be. Many of the electronic games or toys are self-contained, meaning no involvement, participation, physical exertion, or human interaction from anyone else. In other words, they are electronic babysitters.

Parents don't have time to play with their children, so go play with a video game. Or they're fearful to let their kids go play outside, so instead go to your room and play a video game. Whether there's justification or not, kids are being conditioned to be solitary, and to not have social interaction with anyone else.

A big part in the success of Lionel trains in years parts, was the marketing of the trains as a father-son hobby. And most of us adults in the hobby today, attribute our interest back to when our dad's got us our first Lionel train set. And then took the time (and money) to build a layout board of some kind. (Legos aren't cheap either.) Kids haven't changed... they still want that involvement from their parents.

And from reading here on this forum, the other change is that kids that do have a dad that kindles their train interest... the interest is ALL dad's. The kids get to run trains, but on DAD's layout instead of their own. In years past, it was the father's playing with the trains on their SON's layout.

I had at one time taken some kids from single mother households under my wing. One of those boys was always teasing for me to get him a video game system. I said, "I take you to the video arcade and you also get plenty of that with your friends. I will, though, buy you a train set."

"Oh that's old fashioned. I don't want that" he responded.

I responded, "Yeah, well I'm not just going to hand it to you. You have to build it and work on it with your own hands."

I could see his little brain working when he asked "You mean I would get to use power tools?"

"Sure. You're nine years old. Your mom isn't going to teach you" I told him.

Well, he did a 180 degree turn. Totally got into it. I designed the first layout and his response was "this isn't complicated enough." YES, just what I had hoped to hear. I think he was the only kid in his school class to have his own train layout... a point he took pride in!

This kid would have NEVER got into trains without someone pointing the way and then talking the time (and money) to engage in the hobby with him. Would this scenario happen with every single kid? Probably not, because kids are all different with different abilities and interests. The KEY is a parent taking interest in the child. Otherwise, there's always the electronic babysitter.

I have a friend who does prison ministry. One night we were talking and he said he consuls 88 men in the prison. I asked, "how many of those guys had an active father in their lives?" His face became sullen, and he replied, "out of 88 men, not a single one of them."

K LINE GUY you saved me a lot of thinking and typing.MAKE time to spend with your kids people!OR don't have kids.Nick

Absolutely wonderful of you to do what you did and a great response BRIANEL.

Gerry

Reading the story, referenced in Roger's posting, just shows how things change but nothing changes.  Lionel ran into the same predicament at the end.  New technology, quick satisfaction gadgets, flashy items, all caught the attention of the younger kids that trains just could not compete with.

It's a pity that kids today can't just run outside and play with their friends at a moments notice, like we were able to do in the fifties.  When my grandchildren are with us, which is quite alot, they enjoy playing in my shop or in the yard, doing whatever they want to.  We do limit them to non-destructive activities however.....LOL.....when we can.....Ha, ha.

My grandkids are growing up in a world filled with new devices which they are all using and of course they've always had their grandfather's trains. They don't seem to be suffering in any way. They expect and welcome the changes we comment on.

This subject comes up every so often and to be honest I think it is a waste of time on weather kids are going to be into trains in the future. Not one kid in my family and the extended family care one bit about my trains or trains in general. Everybody I know that are into model trains are 60 and over including me. 

Yes the kids have their electronic toys and those are what they like, we can't force anybody to like trains. 

Maybe it's the new technology that is more attractive than the technology my kids had in the '80s.  But during the '80s I had an extensive Lionel layout with loads of operating accessories.  When my kids friends would be at our house, they always wanted to go down the basement and play with the trains, after spending time with Nintendo, Atari, etc.  My wife used to remark to me that she was surprised but delighted that the kids took an interest in my trains. 

That said, while my grandchildren like to see my garden railway, it doesn't hold their interest like those old Lionels did for my kids and their friends.  I guess there's just not enough action.

  My boys are 17 and 14, and they have little use for trains. The older one was really into them when he was little, the younger one still helps me set up the Christmas tree layout, but that is about it. They used to attend all of the train and toy shows with me, but they outgrew it. My hope is that when they have homes of their own, that they take their trains with them and at least continue the tradition of the train around the tree. They both raise a stink if someone suggests not having the train up for Christmas, so they do notice it. Besides, I never played with trains as a kid, and look how I turned out. I've exposed them to other hobbies as well, now all I can do is hope that when the time comes, they will get into something that suits them best. Maybe it will be trains, maybe not. For now, they will do what kids do, they'll follow the crowd. 

  As for all the "Kids are lazy, kids don't want to be outside" talk, I say it is a bunch of hooey. It is the adults that don't want them outside. Neighbors that don't want to hear them, H.O.A. clowns that don't want to see them, parents overreacting to stories of the boogieman, and landowners that are rightfully frightened of lawyers and litigation. If you open the door and let them out, they are going to go. My boys always had the game consoles and the smart phones. Still, I always had them outside, and over time more and more of the kids in the neighborhood came out with them. They did all of the things I did as a kid, and more. When they were little they played things like manhunt and tag; they played football, whiffle ball and basketball. Sadly, street hockey ended when one of the parents got a bunch of tickets for allowing them to play in the street in front of his house. See? Adults. They combed the streets at night, with adult supervision, looking for toads, and later searched the woods for snakes and turtles. They built tracks in the woods for their bicycles, and bigger tracks when they got dirt bikes. Of course, after decades of riding in the area, a new street went up, and someone complained about the noise, so the farmer had to block off some of the trails to stop the complaining. As if a little 4 stroke dirt bike, several hundred yards away, could make a fraction of the noise made by a lawn tractor, a weed whacker or a snow blower. See? Adults. Hobbies and such will always be influenced by the times, but kids will go out and try new things if you let them. 

 Sorry if I'm ranting, this topic always gets me going.