Parents, kids differ on toy choices
Ask moms what they plan to buy for their kids for the holidays, and they all sort of have the same idea.
"Learning games -- where they don't know they're learning," said Dorris Ho-Slomiamy of Rolling Meadows at the Chicago Toy and Game Fair in Schaumburg earlier this month.
"We're interested in educational games," said Kim Campbell of Chicago, whose children were exhibiting toys they invented at the Schaumburg fair.
Parents' infatuation with educational toys doesn't exactly extend to kids, however. Hard to believe -- or not -- but kids at the same toy fair didn't seem to be gravitating toward games with names like "Pharoah's Phonics" or "1960: The Making of the President."
While moms are likely to choose a Reading Roadway board game over a toy gun, many kids have something less wholesome in mind when it comes to Hanukkah or Christmas wish lists.
"Light sabers you can fight with," enthused Liam Bradley, 7, of Chicago, at the Schaumburg fair.
"A Play Station. A Nintendo DS. Wrestling action figures. The video game 'God of War.' And Cube World" (a game in which figures interact electronically), said Joey Hagee, 9, of Lake Zurich, on a visit to Brookfield Zoo last week.
His friend Ryan Lundgren, 8, also of Lake Zurich, chimed in with a less combat-ready list. Still, no requests for Reading Roadway.
"A mini dirt bike to ride on, a laptop, an I-Phone and an I-Coaster -- you plug your iPod into it and a marble rolls around the track," Ryan said.
However, not every kid coveted things that created mayhem or required charging. At the Schaumburg fair, Lynn Brahin of Chicago said her 9-year-old son enjoys playing board games, reading and building with sets such as Kapla blocks.
"I'm looking for something that can foster their creativity and let them interact with people," she said.
But some moms have given up the eat-your-peas attitude toward toy-buying.
Alison McDonald was browsing the action figure aisles at Toys R Us in Schaumburg last week for her 3- and 5-year-old sons.
"I'm purely going off their wish lists," said the Pleasant Prairie, Wis., mom. "In the past, I tried to get educational stuff for them, but not this year.
"I'm just trying to make it a dream come true for them, a fantastic Christmas. They're good kids, and they deserve it."