Children being mugged and beaten for their toys

@ajadedidealist Unfortunately we live in an age where children want all the latest gizmos and parents being pressed for time just give. I too am guilty of this crime as I bought my nine year old nephew a $200 iPod Nano last year because he kept haranguing me and I remember at that time that my dad asked him to be careful and not take it with him to the play ground.I had such a case of deja-vu when I read this news report.

This is an awful thought, but more disturbing that parents let children wander around with these gadgets unsupervised.

I live in a neighborhood where even I wouldn't wander around flaunting my electronic devices - it would just be foolish. And none of the younger kids on my block play outside without supervision, though I'm sure it happens in some nearby places.

I think Uraniumfish has a point about the haves and the have nots, but I still think a line should be drawn somewhere. Kids do NOT need Blackberries. My parents let us use their computer and play games on it - both educational and non - but we weren't allowed to have any game consoles. I had to pay for my own cell phone in high school. I think you can develop kids' motor skills without buying them tons of crap they don't need.

@DBlack Ah, Ataris. Remember them? I had geeky older cousins so my parents were influenced to buy me an Atari early on, but unlike my older cousins I HATED the stupid thing and didn't see the fun in trying to build up the motor skills to kill the spaceships or whatever. Which I guess disproves my own point, really. I had easy access to computers and gadgets growing up but didn't really take to them naturally. So I wonder what that says. Some people who are that super-proficient just have an affinity that others don't?

@uptowngirl Yeah - they say that the radiation may be especially dangerous for young children.

@Uraniumfish Fo' sho'.

@DBlack I dont know whether they circumvent it or just stick to age old relatively 'green' methods.. I am reminded of a time when I was buying super expensive organic Pink Lady apples at Fairway on 72nd and Broadway. The check out clerk happened to be a Bangladeshi lady who asked me why was I interested in paying $1 for an organic apple when apples grown in our countries were all organic anyway. I asked her what she meant and she said that in Bangladesh and other South Asian countries cow manure has been used as a fertilizer for thousands of years and it was not a new fangled concept. The products from such kind of farming were being touted as organic and sold at exorbitant prices in NYC and elsewhere and she thought it was complete madness.. I was gobsmacked to say the least at the end of the lecture but bought the apples anyway.