Are children given too many toys?

[Hermit]

Yes, yes they are
Spoilt little shits.
When I was a kid we had a tin with rocks in it.
And we were bloody grateful!

You had rocks?

Luxury!

Ok, they weren't real rocks.
More like pebbles.
But softer.
Ok, bark, we had bark.
It was bark.

O no! Not again!

[Audley Strange]

I genuinely don't know any parents who buy their kids a lot of toys. However I do know a lot of adults who have far far too many, myself included.

[Horwood Beer-Master]

Airfix teaches you patience and motor skills and......slowness. Slowness is under-appreciated.

Building kits teaches you monumental patience...

Can't see that working with my Nephew

[Trinity]

My kids did have quite a lot of toys but I think that's because we bought them things that last- I hate plastic tat (although they got that from others!). We invested in Brio wooden railway and road toys (and wooden garage etc), both my girls loved these and they're now stored for future generations. Books, board games and soft toys and a massive, probably a few grand's worth of Lego. Both my daughters will sit for hours and in the hols, days, creating the most incredible civilisations, characters and story plots (even though they mainly have Lego kits). They still have all of the instruction booklets but prefer to make their own stuff up.
Apart from that, most of my children's time when younger was spent outdoors making dens, climbing trees, on their bikes etc.

[klr]

FWIW - and seeing my own nieces and nephews in particular - I would say " definitely yes". One of the reasons is very aggressive strategies by toy companies to produce, market and sell new lines of toys that kids don't really need, but make a lot of money.

That's part of the reason, but I think the main reason is that toys are so cheap these days. It's often worth the cost of an inexpensive toy to avoid a single tantrum. The problem is that they don't then get thrown out.

Incidentally, I don't think a month is long enough. I've pulled adult toys off the shelf after decades of disuse. My kids have done the same after a year, a comparable proportion of their life.

I agree in part with the notion that toys are seen as a quick way to keep kids quiet, but cheap many of them ain't. I suppose it depends on what your definition of "cheap" is though.