As reported in the press, a recent Mumsnet survey has emphasised the belief amongst parents that children are growing up faster – or getting older younger as it’s sometimes described – something the toy industry has recognised for years. It seems this latest survey suggests that the majority of parents believe childhood is over by the age of 12.
That’s a sad state of affairs in anyone’s book but, given that at the same time we’re all expected to live longer, it means that childhood must be becoming an even smaller proportion of life. When we started Mulberry Bush 17 years ago, one of our guiding principles was that we should offer the toys and games that parents, and indeed grandparents, would remember with fondness from their own childhood. We still do that. If childhood is so fleeting, isn’t that all the more reason to ensure that, whilst they are young, children have the wherewithal for fun, imaginative and constructive play, through toys that have been proven down the years?
