Useful Engines

Alternatively, as a somewhat less sinister explanation for work-based toys: kids love to do what (they think) their parents do. Kids see grown-ups doing work all the time and their interpretations of what they see comes out in imaginative play. I have a tractor for yard work and mowing, and my kid has a toy one so he can pretend to do the same.

Do some toys take this in a weird, unnecessary direction? Absolutely! But at the end of the day grown ups work, and kids copy.

Nice read. Even if it may not be the entire truth (I'm not making claims either way).

It reminds me of an album that put me much into the same headspace as this article, River of Nile - The Work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NYuLb5gLmM

Which is a reflection, in my interpretation, of modern life and society and its hyper-focus on the work.

The mention of Bluey in the footnotes is as valuable as any other paragraph.

open-ended story, and play are a MUCH bigger springboard

AND

This is so analogous to the UNIX model of "don't make it so big on it's own, rather make it great and give it a friend" -- that pipe function is the door of imagination

What a barrel of fun.

This was a great read.

thinkpieces have got to stop

That's right, the most blatant of all brainwashes has always been directed at children. But it's totally under parents' radar, because they were treated well in their due time too. The human spiral of doom.