Interesting post by Pamela Paul about how we should "Raise the price of toys."

As an example, Paul remembers about how special it was, when she was growing up, to buy a new sticker. How she would buy one off of the big roll at a stationary store, and she had to get someone from the store to help you make the big purchase. Paul laments how inexpensive stickers have become now, that we can buy literally hundreds of them for under ten bucks, how they have lost their zing, and how "in our abundance, something has been lost."

According to Paul's article, the average American child receives 70 new toys a year. The U.S has only 4 percent of the world's children, yet we consume 40 percent of the world's toys. Paul suggests only offering toys that are "10% toy, 90% child," meaning they require some imagination. She also suggests that perhaps we need to raise the price of toys, so that we learn to value them again. Or we could just buy less of them.

No matter what, I can't think of a kid that needs 70 toys a year. Yikes. And putting this all in perspective, be sure to read this New York Times article on labor in China, child labor that is.