Hi Readers! As I read through the comments about the $9 snowball maker invented by a dad to make sure his sons’ snowballs weren’t too hard-packed, I saw that some folks thought I was a killjoy for scorning it.
So I wrote back to explain that what I really object to is anyone trying to convince parents that an age-old activity is suddenly TOO DANGEROUS. And that, for some reason, THIS GENERATION is more vulnerable to injury/disappointment/disaster than any previous generation, and hence needs to be more protected. And I also object to the fact that someone is making money by assuaging a new parental fear that he himself inflamed.
Thought I’d nailed everything that irked me about he snowball maker. And then I read this fantastic comment from Chris Byrne, a.k.a., “The Toy Guy:”
We have tested this product or one like it, and it’s horrible and unsatisfying for kids to use. The balance is wrong, and the snowballs actually disintegrate before the kids can throw them. We played with kids ages 5-11, and every one of them was frustrated with it for different reasons, mostly because it didn’t work. The one we played with was also very cheap, and younger kids didn’t have the dexterity to use it.
The other problem is that it turns kids into snowball manufacturers, rather than crafters. Now, I know that probably sounds insane, but different snow has different consistencies, and learning how to make a really good snowball comes from getting your hands in the stuff. Do you pack it tight to do damage? Or do you make them quickly and less compressed, for speed? You know what that’s called? Play. This implement effectively removes one whole aspect of creativity and interaction from the play.
I don’t think the readers of this blog are the target demographic for this product, and certainly not from the comments I’ve read. But the important thing with our kids is to look at the whole experience and realize that every time we put a piece of technology or a product between a kid and an experience, that experience is altered–and not always for the best. I know that’s a little heady for a snowball molder, but the principle is sound. The mechanized, perfect snowball takes the individual kid out of the play experience.
Besides, what’s wrong with getting wet and soggy in the snow? Wasn’t that the point? Didn’t you stay out until you were soaked through and the tips of your mittened fingers were covered with ice? Then you got to come inside and get dry and warm again, only to watch the sun go down and the snow turn violet in the last light of the day, and go to bed hoping there would be more snow overnight so you could do it all over? Is there anything that so completely transforms the world to a kid as much as a blanket of snow? But I digress…
I don’t think he digressed at all. I think he’s pretty profound. And perhaps, thanks to him, the conversation will…snowball. (Couldn’t resist!) — L.
43 Comments
You would think some goggles and ear muffs would be cheaper than a contraption if you’re worried about your kids. Personally, I think a little pain is good for growing up.
I cannot read about playing in the snow without developing the darnedest craving for some Campbell’s Cream of Tomato soup cooked with a little Minute Rice and a Kraft American and Wonder Bread grilled cheese sandwich. Ah, to be 10 again….
The point of this product is not to make snowballs.
It is to give adults a < $10 gift to children. Also, to create a less than $10 impulse buy for parents with children in the checkout line. It serves both purposes very well.
I know the inventor and he has done very well for himself with this idea.
The product is actually the 'idea' of an automated snowball maker, rather than the device itself.
Our consumer culture has created so many gifting requirements that consumers are desperate for novelty…to find some way to give something new and different.
Tone down the Hallmark holidays and throwaway consumer gifting and a product like this cannot succeed. How many gifts do you actually use vs. sit on shelf or put in the trash after 5 years of non-use?
Look at Hammacher Schlemmer or other upscale gadget catalogs…the product description 'creates' the problem and then, in the same paragraph, miraculously offers the solution…a gadget that 'seems' like it will work…but is actually more trouble than it is worth.
Re:
“So I wrote back to explain that what I really object to is anyone trying to convince parents that an age-old activity is suddenly TOO DANGEROUS.”
Oh, I think we understood.
But when some of your posts emphasize the same point over and over again, I think readers who want to comment go off on related tangents.
>>>>Our consumer culture has created so many gifting requirements that consumers are desperate for novelty…to find some way to give something new and different. <<<<<
I've never thought to myself, "Gee, self, there just isn't enough stuff out there to buy."
I think Chris’s comment is perfect. Hits the nail right on the head.
It’s like buying cardboard boxes that are already decorated as play houses. These things remove creativity by doing the very things that the kids invented as play in the first place.
Toy Guy:
Do your children also hand carve their lincoln logs? Stitch their own soccer balls on Saturday evenings? Do they use shovels and buckets to build sand castles at the beach, or do you insist that they use their hands?
There is more to snowball fights than crafting of munitions. We use a snowball maker (don’t believe the marketing hype; you can make some hard projectiles with just a little arm strength), and, believe it or not, our children aren’t standing zombie-like flinging mass-produced snowballs with serene expressions on their faces. It’s still play, and it’s still fun. I would wager it is even more fun, as having an ample supply of quickly crafted snowballs allows us more time for strategy and defense construction.
Either way, “The mechanized, perfect snowball takes the individual kid out of the play experience,” is simply your opinion. Don’t judge my family as coddled, unimaginative automatons for using snowball-makers.
Your last paragraph suggests you may be falling into the trap to which I fear other free-rangers are prone. Call it nostalgia, or perhaps regret, but they want their children to experience childhood the way they did, judging other ways as inferior, instead of letting their children live their lives as their own generation, not copies of their parents’.
“Put that thing away and make the snowballs with your own hands. Sure, your fingers are frozen and you’re going to miss out on an hour of time you could be playing while you’re instead standing next to the fireplace, staving off frostbite, but it’s how I had fun when I was a kid!”
“Pokemon cards? Let me show you how to shoot marbles.”
“Skateboard, shmateboard. Take this stick and this metal hoop and have a groovy time!”
Ok, maybe the last example was a bit extreme, but you get the point. I recently ran into this same thing myself. My oldest wanted to be Harry Potter for Halloween. I didn’t want to buy him th $60 costume from the store, since that’s not how I did it when I was a kid. I wanted him to experience the fun (and headaches) of making his own costume, but I realized I was doing it more for myself rather than for him. So, instead, I went ahead and bought him the costume, and we had fun messing with makeup and hair-dye to more closely match the character, as well as whittling his own wand from a tree in the back yard. Accept that your kids are going to have different ways they want to do things than the way you did it as a child. Let them be themselves, and take the opportunity to introduce them to something from your childhood they can incorporate into theirs and make it their own, unique experience.
I agree with Chris- younger kids would have trouble with it and it makes terrible snowballs on its own. The best use I have seen of this product was when my son (then 17) and his friends found one at a garage sale. They broke the pin during the first five minutes then genius struck – each side took half and used it to scoop the snow for the snowballs and a wonderful snowball fight ensured – each side with its own half. They decided the best part was not having to dig in the snow to make the snowballs!
“And that, for some reason, THIS GENERATION is more vulnerable to injury/disappointment/disaster than any previous generation, and hence needs to be more protected” said L.
Yes it is. previous protection from minor stuff caused this generation to be vulnerable, therefore it more of needs (either real or apparent only) protection, and roll the snow ball goes
I agree with Toy Guy. There is nothing wrong with nostalgia. Why wouldn’t we want our children to experience childhood like we did? Childhood for a lot of us was extremely fun and memorable. No fears, no paranoia, we got to experience childhood as many before us have. Up until the last decade or so, children grew up like they have for 1000s of years. Now, they are brought up in a “plastic bubble”. Like they are more delicate and vulnerable these days, then they were in the past. Ummm…kids are kids. Except now, kids are less than kids. It’s really simple case of what do you think will happen to a child when he gets to the age where he’s has to leave the nest, but has had everything done for him, and coddled as a child. Compared to a child, who’s learned to experience life pretty much on his own (with the parents watching over him as he learn on his own, and giving guidance – not doing it for him – but giving advice). It’s like nature vs nurture. A lot of parent’s nurturing conflicts with natural human development. Things like this recondition our children to think differently than how they would if they had experienced it naturally. You don’t need a tool like this to make snowballs, and packing snowballs by hand is way faster than using this contraption. All it is, is a cash cow. Someone realized that there are a lot of naive and fearful parents out there that will buy in to this thing. Why not make money off of them. Again, these days, more and more it seems more about the parents than the kids.
My husband is blind in one eye due to a freak combination of a snowball and a genetic eye condition that left him with a torn retina at age 12. But even he, who would have every reason to be paranoid about snowballs, has never even thought of suggesting that there is something DANGEROUS about snowball fights. Sure we have a “No aiming for faces” guideline (mostly because we all wear glasses, and losing/stomping glasses in the snow gets expensive). But we don’t need to design disintegrating snowballs to ensure safety either. We recognized that what happened to my husband was a total fluke, not an inherent danger in all snowball battles for all time.
Besides, it’s a lot easier to nail a guy with no depth perception….(yes, I’m evil. He loves me anyhow…)
Came across this article today about the need of play. Thought you would find it interesting:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-serious-need-for-play&sc=emailfriend
Ooo, good link there, Leah!
I’m currently reading my kids the original, unabridged Cheaper By The Dozen, which was written for adults, not kids. Safety handwringers would have a dozen heart attacks by the end…
nostalgia’s not what it used to be.
Why are the people who use this product (or maybe it’s just Randy S, in the comment above, taking this so personally?
I think the larger point is not that every toy must be handcrafted or that all experiences must stay the same or even that anyone using such a product is a mindless dummy, but that we should be sure to allow for play and we should question things that take away elements of that experience. Sometimes, making one element easier (as in, not making the toy yourself, or possibly even the snowball) can allow for more creativity in other areas. Other times, it robs an experience of some element that is good for development and just for fun. If someone got a snowball maker that works (most of the people reviewing this specific product seemed to assert that it did not) then maybe it would be something that allowed for more play in different ways. Or maybe not. But it’s fair to question that. And it’s certainly not a personal attack. At least, I don’t think so.
EricS:
I disagree completely. Kids don’t need to grow up like we did, because we sure didn’t grow up like our parents, nor they like theirs. Kids grow up and have experiences that are unique to their generation. There is more than one type of bubble we can try to force our children into. You and I may have enjoyed snowball fighting when we were kids, but if all the neighborhood kids prefer to sled or skate, it’s not right for us to gather them all together and force them into a snowball fight. How is that any less of a bubble for your kids? Don’t be overprotective, yes, but let them have their own lives, not relive ours just because we thought they were great.
“Someone realized that there are a lot of naive and fearful parents out there that will buy in to this thing. Why not make money off of them.”
Don’t be such an alarmist, nor prescribe to millions of people the attitudes that you have. We have had one of these for years. No, they were not marketed for “safety”. Yes, they are faster and more uniform than doing it by hand (once you get the hang of it). No, it’s not more about the parents when my kids were the ones who asked for it.
Before you go judging things, why don’t you buy one and try it. Helpful hint, wax or vegetable oil helps in quick release. Also, after a few years, the middle pin on ours has loosened so that the two halves don’t quite align correctly. Guess it’s time to go be naive and fearful and replace it.
farrarrwilliams:
Sorry, but it was a personal attack from some. There are just some people who think free-range is more of a competition than a philosophy. “My kids don’t need a snowball maker”, “I let my kid walk to school when he was 7…”, “Pshaw, mine was only 6! And it was in Compton!”
I just get aggravated when people judge based on their definition of free-range parenting, and was attempting to demonstrate why those who mock people who buy snowball makers (or infant bouncers, or training wheels, or face shields for baseball players) are not right or wrong, simply at a different point on the free-range scale than those whose children make their own wooden toys, build their bicycles out of spare parts on their own, play with a stick and a hoop, or put their kid on a New York subway 🙂
Does anyone else replay the SNL spoof of Martha Stewart in their heads when they here people talking about their hand crafted wooden toys etc? What utter nonsense.
Some people want their snowballs made for them – outsourcing can be a good thing.
I could totally go for a hot cocoa now…
Let’s talk about what’s really important here.
Does anybody know if “The Toy Guy” is married.
Randy: It’s not what the kids are doing, it’s how they are doing it. Leah posted a link that explains exactly what most of us have been saying for a while. If my kid asks for it, then I’ll get it for him. But I will never get something for him just because I think it’s good for him. Or that it will keep his hands warmer. I’ll buy him better gloves for that. I have the mentality of let kids be kids. Whether its our generation or theirs, kids WILL BE kids if you just let them alone to do so. My parents didn’t do the same things we did growing up, but the one common thing is that they did what they did growing up, and I did what I did growing up. Neither generation was TOLD what to do when it came to playing. All we were told, was to be home by supper, don’t steal, don’t pick fights, and share…oh and be mindful of the things around us. Same goes with my parents (according to them), hence what what I know now and teaching my own the same things. The only reason why I find that contraption pretty ridiculous, is the fact that the father who “invented it” had a purpose. Because he didn’t want his kids hands getting cold. It’s winter, EVERYONE’S hands gets cold. In generations past, kids made snowballs too and their hands got cold. Even more so because the mitts or gloves they had weren’t as warm as the ones now. But did that stop them from enjoying the snow? Nope. And yes, I have tried a similar gadget, which is why I think it’s pretty useless. As you said “once you get used to it”, then you said use “use wax or vegetable oil for quick release”. That’s just sounds like more work in making a snowball. Let’s see, you have to carry the thing with you pretty much every time there’s a possibility you’d like to make a snow ball, and that thing isn’t small. But you also have to make sure it’s always “greased”. Perhaps maybe even carry some wax or a bottle of oil with you? Yeah, too much work. I prefer the fashion way of walking, grabbing snow, packing it in your hands and throwing it. Done. Nothing extra to carry or worry about. So yes, to me it’s a cash cow. Albeit, with some reasoning behind it. Which I don’t agree with. I’m not condemning people who use it, I just don’t think it’s worth $10, when your hands are free and can make a snowball just the same. And making a round snowball by hand is far more rewarding than something making round snowball for you. In short, I’d rather have my kids experience childhood as a child should, and not have it experienced for them. Use that thingy-mabob, it works for you, according to you your kids like it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. So if I chose not to see this contraption as you see it, don’t make me think otherwise.
“All we were told, was to be home by supper, don’t steal, don’t pick fights, and share…oh and be mindful of the things around us.”
Yep, that’s the important part. As for the “purpose” of the inventor, I’ve seen this item on Amazon as well as at the site posted here. The descriptions are not the same, so I figured it was just some marketing person who knew their demographic at the site listed in this article (that site screams “consumer parent” to me). Turns out, that is the same description given on the inventor’s own website. That’s too bad. I like the invention, but am disappointed in the inventor’s attitude.
It’s not as bad as you make it sound, but yeah, this thing normally sits in a closet until one of the boys comes running in, ready to start or join a snowball fight. It’s not something you carry around with you in the middle of winter just in case, no more than they carry their sled around with them just in case they come across a good hill. When they’re done, it gets wiped down, put in a bag, and tossed back into the closet, ready for next time.
Glad to hear you’re basing your judgment on actual use, not ridiculous marketing speak.
@Randy S.: I think you have valid points, but the issue for me personally isn’t one of making kids do things the way I did – it’s the WAY these things are marketed that gets me.
When I was a kid, we had all sorts of novelty pieces of crap that promised to do one thing and didn’t do it, and things like sno-cone makers (I still remember my little snoopy ice shaver) that was battery operated instead of crank driven by hand – yep, I had both and got to experience technology for myself – but it was never *marketed* as:
“Buy the battery operated ice shaver! Keeps kids delicate fingers from creating blood-flavored ice!”
We are creating a culture of fear and paranoia because someone figured out that fear in products sells. I went to the site and they are absolutely using the “safety” selling hook. While smart people are able to see that for what it is, a LOT of other people aren’t – and begin to assume that there are inherent and dire safety precautions that must be taken to avoid some major disaster.
Kids should absolutely be open to experiencing the best that technology has to offer, and open to experiencing the “old” ways, and being able to combine those or create their own way – they just can’t do it if parents are convinced thanks to the manufacturers that their children are in danger by doing it any other way.
When I look at that snowball maker, you know what I see?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlatl
You think hand-packed snowballs are too dangerous? How much more dangerous do you think snowballs will be when propelled by an extra twelve inches of lever arm?
I think all those “for” and those “against” the marvelous snowball maker should meet on a snow covered field of battle. Of course, the snow should be on the wet side and just right for good packing.
Then, at the sound of the pistol (actually a recording of a gunshot ’cause it’s safer) they can battle it out and see which is better, hand made or “machine” made snow balls.
Personally, I’m going with “hand-crafted” since I’m from western NY and had a lot of practice back in the day.
Actually, after watching one of those Biblical movies, I decided that slings were way cool and worked great at hurling nice, hard packed snowballs and stones. Of course, I had to make my own sling but that made it all the more fun.
Kind of like hand crafting one’s own snowballs….
I have no right to comment either way. I used to put rocks in my snowballs. Or chestnuts.
I couldn’t find a where to email or submit something other than in comments but I saw this product and thought you might have a comment or two on it. It is a 2 week tattoo that you put on your child with your phone number just in case…
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/1-3-years/e65f/
Chris is brilliant. I couldn’t have said this better. I totally agree with him. LOVE this blog! 🙂
@Keara: I wish I had known about that before! I would actually have bought it. We’re off to Walt Disney World for almost three weeks soon, and in my experience with similar places, it is very easy to get lost for kids, expecially if they are somewhat free to roam.
My 4 y.o. son got lost in a fun park in summer. We usually do it like this: If there is a play area, we let him explore it for himself after making sure he knows where one of us sits and relaxes, the other usually watches our almost 2 yo. Dorian runs around, explores and comes back whenever he wants. We usually know where he is – but last time he went off a little far and didn’t find his way back..
He didn’t panic – he went to the next person who worked there and asked her to call the number on his bracelet. She did – and we had him back about 5 minutes after we had realized he wasn’t in the playland anymore.
Honestly: whenever we get out into a crowd, both kids wear my number and Dorian knows to talk to a grown up who works there when he can’t find me.
So the ski area where we have a chalet has now passed a bylaw that there is no more “tobaggoning in the village” Yep, no more sledding. How on earth are they going to enforce this one? Kids and snow and sleds are like. well, the sun moon and stars….Now try and teach your children to respect the rules of the village….ARGH!!!!
Where I grew up (and live now), it doesn’t snow. I can only remember one time when there was snow; I ran outside gaping at the novelty. Picked it up, checked it out, felt it (gloveless! cold!), marveled at this amazing new stuff covering the ground.
But if I lived in nutjob world: Some adult runs up, tells me to never touch snow, hands me a snowball-making contraption. So I scoop it up, and the device makes a ball of snow. Yawn. Now what?
Back in the real world: Stomp through the stuff, Form it into shapes. Make snowmen. Throw a snowball at my brother. Dance and play! For two days later, it was all gone, not to return.
I think AM nailed it. “I spent $10 on something for my kid, that shows I’m a better parent. Yay me!”
We actually bought a snowball maker of some kind, and found that one could actually make HARDER snowballs with the product. My son tried it, and still uses it on occasion, mixed with traditional hand-packed alternatives as well. For him, it was a tool for consideration, but not automatically for blanket substitution of his hands. The rest is as Chris Byrne artfully outlines (full disclosure: the writer knows Mr. Bryrne).
Life in America right now is beyond satire! It IS a satire! If people from the 1920’s and 1930’s could see how Woody-Allenish the Nanny State and the Kulcher have become, they would be appalled.
To prove this, revisit the “Little Rascals” comedies from that era. To be sure, they showed lower-class to middle-class kids in comedically fictional situations, but the plots were never so outlandish that nobody believed kids could get involved in such things.
The adult world was there, but only tangentially. My own childhood was similar: e.g. we organized our own snowball wars, and no adults were around to micromanage our fun!
For the record, I teach Latin in a Catholic grade school: micromanaging parents are the bane of all of us here! 🙂
Randy S – you make some very good points. OUr kids are growing up in a very different time than we did. I’m confronted by this reality every time my almost 11 year old begs for a cell phone. On one hand I say – “kids don’t need cell phones” on the other I say “to encourage him to wander and be able to be independent, a cell phone would be helpful”. It’s a tough balancing act for me.
On the cell question, I have decided to take a middle ground, add an old cell phone to my family plan (basically free) and let him use it when he is out wandering.
On the other hand, having the kids actually touch snow, play with sand and dirt, sew some things together, etc, is really good for their brains. It used to be that was the only way to get some things done. Now that we have alternatives, we have to choose to create those opportunities for development.
And yeah – Free Ranging isn’t a competition. Or at least it shouldn’t be.
If someone pulled this silly contraption out when I was a kid they would have been given a wedgie and would have been pinned down and had snow shoveled down their back and pants for being such a wimp. This piece of junk is hilarious. Probably made in China too!!
Not related to the Snowball Maker (sorry), but I thought you would find this interesting:
http://www.dooce.com/2010/11/08/lost-translation
“Over the weekend I was watching an episode of House Hunters International where a family was moving from the Midwest to Paris. While touring the second floor of a house in the Paris suburbs, the mother pointed out to the realtor that there were no screens or any safety devices on the windows, how was she supposed to keep her two-year-old from jumping to his death? And the realtor answered in English with a deep accent, “Vell, you tell heem not to jump out zee vindow, and he will not jump out zee vindow.”
You guys, why did she not think of that?”
Sadly the blogger goes on to think that this is crazy, and that any child who had not been drugged would think that jumping out the window would be the BEST thing to do. 🙁
@Jules: You were one of THOSE kids! lol They were so crazy, it’s funny looking back at it now. At least you weren’t one of those kids that poured some water on the snowballs to make it extra “packed”.
@Keara: I’m almost speechless about that. Flabbergasted even (and not in a good way). Maybe I should invent something to capitalize on people’s inherent fears. Seems to be plenty of them out there. I would make a small fortune I think with some of the ideas I have. lol
something tells me this kid isn’t afraid to make his own snowballs… check it out – he’s awesome! (how did his mother find the guts to let him try this at first?)
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/11/09/six-year-old-thrashi.html#comments
I took one look at this and my inner 8 yr old wanted it. Intensely.
Position yourself next to a pile of wet snow, and not only do you get to make slush balls really fast, because of the design, you can throw it with the device giving you extra velocity and/or distance. And better yet, your hands don’t go numb from your gloves getting soaked. Finally, if things are going poorly, you can always hit somebody with it, although that might be the point in time where they take it away from you and use it like a ladle to fill your pants with slush.
In short this is the perfect weapon for sending the other kids home, crying for their mommies.
You don’t need a tattoo for a kid to have their phone number on their arm. A Sharpy works just fine. I used one every time we went to the fair or boardwalk for my son who has speech delays. I told him if he got separated to go find a mother with kids and point to his arm, because it was the only way that anyone would really understand what he needed. It said “Call my mom (123)456-7890.” He never had to use it, but it was nice to know that he could communicate if he needed to.
The snowball maker….eh, I am a cheapskate – hands work fine for my family, when we have snow. We have been known to take wrapping paper and make it into balls for snow ball fights when we lived in CA.
I think this is much ado about nothing. Sure I can agree that there is too much crap to buy, but we can choose to buy it or not.
The idea that using “technology” to make snowballs somehow ruins the experience is laughable. When I was a kid, I loved raiding the kitchen for spoons, ice cream scoops, bowls, etc., to make snowballs. The ice cream scoops were my favorite.
Oh, and by the way, this appears in the L.L.Bean catalog with an accompanying “block maker,” not marketed as a safety device but instead saying “sometimes the simplest toys are the most fun.”
#37- LOVED that video. I am hoping my son will be even one tenth as good as that kid! I can’t be sure he will want to take up skateboarding, but its likely- both parents did it and where we live every kids got a board. I’m going to send him out surfing too.
I’m not overly concerned about injury, it happens but its worth the risk. I’m MUCH more worried that he won’t learn to love doing things that take skill, outdoors, and will be bored and attracted to trouble/drugs instead.(And its not pot that scares me.) Bored kids get in trouble, I know al about this!
I don’t care what sport/hobby hetakes up, or how dangerous it is, so long as its not passive or mind numbing.
More OT- We don’t have snow, but if we did I would probably let DS buy this with his own money. I would not pay for it, but that’s only because we won’t be buying toys and such outside of xmas and birthday once he is old enough to make his own money. I can see this being used to great advantage, the safety issue is just stupid!!!
Chris Byrnes comments are exactly why we make our HAMBURGERS with our UNGLOVED bare hands. Different meat has different consistency, ya gotta get dirty to have fun. Packing your own burgers makes ’em taste better.