Holy CRAP things are totally changing

I have always been a proponent of technology, and at the same time I have been for things staying classic, so I must admit that when i saw this article on CNN, I was at least intrigued. I really can't say if i am happy about it, or not. I mean really are we going to keep giving our kids ways to lose their imagination? The Radio Flyer 2.0 is pretty interesting, it has a built in MP3 jack, with speakers, cup holders, and even a digital handle so that you can keep track of the temperature, time, and distance traveled.

That makes it pretty incredible, because now when soccer mom's take their kids to the park they can keep track of how far they have pulled their kids, and incorporate it into their workout regiment. The mp3 player jack is also pretty cool, I mean your kids can sing along to their favorite songs, or parents can force their music on their kids.

But here is where I get a little cranky, what happened to the creative side of things? This thing is so aerodynamic and "stylish" that there is just no way you can make it into the thousands of things kids made their old red wagons into. People made them into lemonade stands, and forts, and big play pens, jumps, all sorts of things. It was a home base for all of the superhero's that we used to pretend we were, and more importantly they were incredibly durable.

the old ones were made of metal, so if you scratch it its just a scratch, and a story, dents become scars of battles, and wars that were fought in the imagination, the foxhole you were hiding in while your friends pelted you with imaginary weapons, or even a storage unit for all your snow balls.

I must admit that i am completely torn about whether or not this thing is cool or not, i mean cane you take the mp3 player out in the snow? Anyway it sure is a sign of how things are totally changing, the digital world is making its way into every single aspect of our lives. Is that a good thing? Maybe, maybe not. I wish that we encouraged children to imagine more. When i was young everything we did was imaginary, we could play for hours or days, or even weeks with a big pile of snow.

I don't mind having technology, but i really think we need to continually encourage our children to imagine, and think in new and amazing ways. I hope that they will continue to grow, but without imagination will our country continue to sink into a deeper hole?