As a child, I spent the better part of my childhood in various parts of Nakuru where I got the chance to go to shops to buy sweets.
It seems that I developed a sweet tooth at a tender age, something that I still have to date. Those were the days when I used to enjoy goody goody, some type of candy known as lamchuse (sp), a sweet called toffee and Big G among other tasting treats.
Some of the toys I personally bought after pleading with my mother to give me Sh2 included balloons and I particularly enjoyed the game where you had to pick a number which would decide the size of balloon to get.
Most of us fought to get a number that would ensure we get the biggest balloon which was mostly located at the centre of a chart where the balloons were hung.
To date, I still doubt whether the number that led to that balloon existed because despite my numerous efforts and trips to the shop my friends and I made, no one got the prized possession.
During those days, the most common toys found in shops included banyo (marbles) for the boys which as I remember cost sh1 each and dolls that were sewn and dressed by some tailors for the girls among other toys.
That is when the saying necessity is the mother of invention applied most because if your parents refused to buy you a toy, you would go ahead and make one e.g. boys made footballs from ‘monyore na makonge’ (paper bags and sisal ropes) where as girls made dolls from those paper bags and pieces of wool after which they would look for rags and make clothes for their ‘babies’ (dolls).
Fast forward to 2016 and things have really changed. Children are now being taken to social places in Nakuru to play such as Kivu Resort where they can swim, Oloika for bouncing castles among other games and Kunste Hotel where there are swings and slides among other games.
Most children that are born in this generation are also familiar with TV programmes and mobile phone games such as Temple Run and Candy Crash among other games.
What is sad is that this generation of children are now being exposed to dangerous games and toys as well.
Specialists in early childhood development have time and again stated the importance of children playing saying it is the way that they practice growing.
According to them, toys are tools the children use to play and they also ensure that children get lots of practice.
They classify toys in various groups such as toys for physical development e.g. puzzles and bikes, toys for sensory development e.g. musical instruments and those for intellectual development e.g. crayons and paints.
Nowadays, as parents take trips to the local shops in Nakuru to buy toys for their young ones, some have little knowledge about the categories and so end up buying those that are dangerous to their kids.
Such toys include toy guns and toy swords which may children in Nakuru have now come to love and demand for. These toys have attractive colours and some even have sweets attached to them.
The manufacturers who mostly target boys have also decided to trap the girls by making the toys in colours that are considered girlish i.e. pink. In addition to that, the toys are very cheap as they go for as little as Sh50.
Parents in Nakuru may think that the children will not make anything out of the toys but what they should know is that children mlearn more as they grow up through observation.
So don't be surprised when your child displays some behavior that will make you wonder where they learnt them from. Definitely it could be from the toys you bought him/her.
As such, they ought to know that there are safer toys children should be bought for and should thus shun those that may have a negative effect to a child's life.