Behind the little toys there is a big article on the construction of the old age culture
How to make "silver-haired people" always have fun and fun
In Nanjing, Jiangsu, an old man is playing with stone locks to exercise his physical fitness.
Xinhua News Agency
Editor's note
There are plush dolls and remote-controlled cars when I was young, figures and airplane models in adolescence, assembling models, and decompression toys in adulthood...Every stage of life is inseparable from the company of various toys, in order to enjoy the spirit and increase intelligence ,relax.
"Changle Promise is old and old." Today, when the fast-moving Chinese society collides head-on with aging, when 180 million people aged 65 and over gather as the "silver wave" around us, how can we relax the old people who have worked hard all their lives? And comfort?
What can we provide for the elderly so that they can have fun in their old age?
Recently, some elderly toy stores have entered the public eye. Guangmingzhiku has sent reporters to observe and visit in many ways to gather the voices of toy store owners, designers, elderly "playing friends", experts and scholars.
I hope that the thoughts inspired by these voices will be transformed into a caring gift to the elderly, so that the night will be beautiful and the world will be warm.
An elderly man and his staff are playing checkers at the Wanping City Elderly Care Service Station of Kangzhu Nursing Home in Fengtai District, Beijing.
Xinhua News Agency
[Reporter visit]
Regain childhood fun here
On a cold winter weekend, the reporter came to the "Old You Can Play" toy store for the elderly located in Yangzhuang Road, Tongzhou District.
Pushing open the door, you will see a wide and bright space, covering an area of more than 200 square meters.
The huge shop is divided into display area, sports fitness area, and educational toy area. A variety of toys of various sizes are scattered all over it, making the whole space especially warm.
There are not many elderly people in the shop.
The owner, Song Delong, told reporters that some time ago, there were quite a lot of old people, and there were dozens of people a day.
In recent days, the weather is cold and affected by the epidemic, elderly people rarely go out.
Mr. Liu, 72, has a hearty laugh, and is a regular customer here.
In addition to bringing his grandson, he likes to play table tennis.
"Since I found this shop, I have been thinking about it, and I often come to check it out. Toss pots, diabolos, and comic books, so many fun, I haven't played it all yet." His grandson Dudou came to this for the first time today, with lots of toys. I have never seen it before, squatting on the ground with eyes full of novelty, playing with diabolo and hoop, touching "Hua Rong Dao" from time to time, solving the Nine Links, and pulling his grandfather to play the pot happily.
With a "bang", Song Delong used a small popcorn machine to make fragrant popcorn.
The 84-year-old grandmother Fang kept watching: "This machine is very convenient to use, and you can make snacks by yourself. I think back then, they were all big machines, iron guys, now they are rare." Grandma Fang muttered. Bought one to take home.
She lives near the shop and has few people in her family. She usually worries about how to pass the time.
"I can not only play with toys, but also chat with other old people. The toys here are for our tastes, and those electronic devices, old people don't understand."
Several middle-aged people also wandered around in the shop.
Some of them want to buy some gadgets for the elderly at home, and some bring their children to "nostalgia".
"The children nowadays haven't seen these very much. I want her to experience the fun of our childhood." A woman with her 7-year-old daughter told reporters.
She also discussed with the shopkeeper: "Can I make money only by selling toys? I think there are more elderly people who come to play than buy."
This is also the question that many people have after coming to "play with the old": let the old people play with toys for free, is anyone willing to buy it?
Song Delong has his own considerations: "Opening this store is not only to sell toys, but also to build a club for the elderly, where everyone can play together and make friends. Once they charge a fee, the taste will change." He has been engaged in old age culture for many years. In the relevant industry, I deeply realized the lack of entertainment for the elderly, so I opened this store.
It took him a lot of hard work to collect more than 400 toys.
So far, although it has received a lot of attention since its opening, it has not yet reached the stage of profitability.
"Before I invested, I was prepared to face difficulties. I hope that I can gradually make profits in half a year. However, there is also a good trend. Recently, many property companies, nursing homes, enterprises and institutions have come to buy groups and design entertainment activities for the elderly. Use toys to decompress." Song Delong said that since the opening of the business, he is most proud and gratified to make more people notice the neglected "playing mind" of the elderly.
The reporter visited and found that most elderly people rarely have entertainment activities of their own. Most of their daily energy and time are used to take care of the younger generation. In addition, they are dancing and playing cards.
When asked what kind of toy they want, many elderly people said that they had hardly thought about it, but they were "moved when they heard it."
They told reporters that of course they like interesting gadgets, but they don't know how or what to buy.
Before opening the store, Song Delong inspected the market situation of domestic and foreign elderly toys.
He found that countries such as Europe, America and Japan currently have large-scale toy stores for the elderly, as well as companies specializing in the development of toys for the elderly.
Japan is very concerned about the spiritual life of the elderly, and often launches various types of educational toys and interactive toys for the elderly on the market.
The United States has a series of toys and outdoor entertainment equipment designed specifically for the elderly.
For most Chinese people, "old age toys" is still a relatively new concept.
"Elderly toy shops in our country have also been run sporadically before, but they are able to persevere and have very few profits." Song Delong said frankly, "Someone has to work hard. If you work hard, it might be done."
Ai Old Homeland, Jiangning Road Street, Jing'an District, Shanghai, in a rehabilitation class for the elderly with mild to moderate cognitive impairment, an elderly person performs cognitive training through playing mini games.
Xinhua News Agency
【Narration】
Elderly toy shop: low profit, high demand
Narrator: Wang Hong, owner of an elderly toy store in Taobao
Since I was a child, I have liked playing with small toys.
Because many elderly people also want to play with toys, but don't know where to buy them, I opened an online store that specializes in selling things that old people like.
I also opened a physical store.
The sales of children's toys in the store are very good, but few people buy toys for the elderly.
I find that the old people who go to the store hardly buy toys for themselves, which may be embarrassing.
Most of the young people buy for their parents and grandparents. Even the elderly in their 60s and 70s want to buy toys for their parents.
Although the sales of middle-aged and elderly toys in physical stores are not good, the sales of online stores are gradually becoming large, which shows that the potential purchase demand of the elderly is great.
Selling toys for the elderly is more troublesome than selling toys for children.
Children of the same age are roughly similar in intelligence and hands-on ability, while the situation of elderly people of the same age is very different and their needs are very different.
Many children rarely go home to accompany the elderly, so they want to buy toys for them to relieve their boredom.
However, they are not very clear about the situation of the elderly, and our customer service can not make targeted purchase suggestions. In this way, it is more difficult to choose toys for the elderly.
Now, I have not found any domestic manufacturers that specialize in toys for the elderly. I always go to different toy manufacturers to judge what the elderly likes based on experience, and then buy them back, and exercise flexibility according to the "puzzle", "prevention of dementia" and "flexible exercises". It is sold in categories such as "sexuality" and "relief of boredom".
Misjudgment is also common.
For example, when purchasing goods, I saw some weird board games, which I found very interesting.
After I bought it, I found out that the old people found it too difficult to sell.
Basically, traditional objects such as Luban locks and Huarong Road, and popular toys such as Sudoku and Memory Chess are familiar to old people and will not reject them. Moreover, because the players themselves are widely distributed, old people will not think that only children can play. , The acceptance is also higher.
Our industry is very small.
There is no special category of "Elderly Toys" on Taobao. We are classified into the category of mothers and babies, and target customers often cannot find us, which makes me a headache.
Having been in business for more than 5 years, the online shop now has a monthly purchase volume of one to two thousand people.
Over the years, there have been more repeat customers, and more and more juniors have realized that they should care about the spiritual and cultural life of the elderly.
Although the profit of selling old-age toys is not high, I am very happy that old people can get their favorite toys.
Let the elderly find themselves in entertainment
Narrator: Jin Enjing, founder of Kang Yuxuan Sunhe Senior Apartment
More than 90% of Kang Yuxuan's customers are elderly people with cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer's disease. Toys have always been used as an important tool for care and treatment.
But we currently have very few other toys except mahjong, poker and chess.
Because many old-age educational toys on the market have a backward concept, they often regard the elderly as patients who cannot take care of themselves, and the products they make are naive.
In my opinion, the sick elderly are adults with rich life experience. They just gradually forget the acquired knowledge. Although they have difficulty in expressing them, they do not want to be regarded as inexperienced children.
We should treat them upright and respect them.
We cooperated with university research teams to develop some multi-functional games and toys for the elderly.
The eyesight of the elderly is reduced, and the ability to distinguish colors is reduced; they are not very agile, so they are not suitable for playing toys and games that require fine movements. These considerations should be reflected in the design.
The most popular thing in the apartment for the elderly is our improved blackjack chess toy.
The elderly feel the joy of competition, and everyone can do their best to do mathematical calculations and communicate with their peers.
We will give out small prizes to the old people who win.
The elderly can give prizes to their families, or feed their pets with the pet food in the prizes, which is very fulfilling.
Sick elderly people also have the desire to win, the need to cooperate and compete with others, and can withstand the pressure of competition.
In the process of playing, they don't feel that they are being taken care of. Everyone is a participant and collaborator of the game.
We also organize family members and the elderly to set up the Hippocampus Memory Workshop, so that the elderly can form a team, separate roles, conduct operations and management, design and make hand-embroidered bags, bento bags, and sell them for money.
I found that elderly people are very invested in this kind of situational entertainment, and symptoms such as anxiety have been greatly improved.
We realize that the entertainment of the elderly is not only to maintain their ability, but also to create value. Therefore, we try to integrate toys into our daily life to prevent it from appearing deliberately.
We hope that through the creation of the environment, with the help of toys and games, the elderly can live a comfortable and decent life.
Design more educational products and convey the love in your heart
Narrator: Fu Jiqing, lecturer at the School of Design and Art, China Academy of Art
Medical and psychological studies have found that playing with toys in the elderly can not only enhance active communication in life, but also retard the development of Alzheimer's disease.
But now, my country's elderly toy market is almost blank.
It's not that the elderly don't need toys, but that there are no toys that really belong to them.
How to make the life of the elderly colorful and full of vitality?
With this kind of dream, I lead my students to develop a charity project-the design of auxiliary toys to alleviate Alzheimer's disease.
When we walked into a nursing home, we saw that many elderly people had more or less signs of memory decline and functional decline. The emptiness in their eyes made us very heartbroken.
With the help of the caregiver, we had many exchanges with the elderly.
Gradually, the old people opened their hearts to us.
They want something to play with, someone to communicate with, and they don't want to be excluded by society.
We try to use the form of "playing and thinking while watching" to help the elderly rebuild their cognition of self-thought, emotion and behavior.
Research has found that different toys can produce different training effects.
For example, games such as finding differences and finding mistakes can improve observation ability, chess puzzle games can help exercise right brain function, and emotional healing escort products can remind old people of past events that touch their hearts and outline the image in memory.
Based on these principles, we designed the Heal A system.
It consists of physical products and network virtual products.
The music board and memory projector are used for auxiliary treatment. The audio tray integrates charging, Bluetooth audio and storage functions. The conversion of sound and vision awakens depth perception and stimulates the desire for emotional communication among the elderly.
I found that when old people use the product, they look at the family and friends in the video, and they always have a smile in their eyes and a smile on their mouths.
They are feeling their "childlike".
Because the market for toys for the elderly and auxiliary educational products in my country is still immature, it is impossible to scientifically estimate the R&D and production costs. Therefore, our product design can only be limited to the laboratory and cannot be mass-produced.
As a product designer, I sincerely hope that this kind of subject can continue to bring emotional communication, physical perception, and spiritual touch to the elderly, and bring real care and care.
Build the building blocks to create the fairy tale world in your heart
Narrator: Ms. Min Qi, Beijing
When my granddaughter was over 3 years old, I took her to the toy store to buy blocks.
I bought a few square head boys first and took her to fight together.
Playing and playing, I am more addicted than my granddaughter.
As soon as I have time, I will go to the store.
Where is the charm of building blocks?
The first is challenging.
Although there are assembling instructions, there are still mistakes, such as selecting the wrong parts and placing them in the wrong position.
This requires calmness and patience, and step by step to look for the reasons.
In order to correct the error, I would spend several hours, there is no way to bring the semi-finished products to the store to consult the salesperson.
It is precisely because it is "not easy" that every time I complete a work, I feel very happy.
The second is the wonderful and bold design of the building blocks.
For example, in the "Frozen" suit, the crystal clear sea blue castle is so beautiful.
There is also my favorite "tree house". There are three houses on a big tree canopy. Not to mention the furnishings, there are also spiral staircases, European-style fences, swings that can be swayed and exquisite lawns.
What's more surprising is that the designer has equipped with two kinds of green and golden leaves, which are convenient to change according to the season.
After finishing the "tree house", I sit in front of it and look at it when I have time, as if I am in it.
My granddaughter and I also bought some loose pieces to make creative Lego.
Sometimes we will compete to see who is creative within the specified time.
The process is very stressful and very happy, often creating unexpected surprises.
Every time I finish building a building block, I will take it with my phone and put it in my favorites.
In order to prevent them from getting dusty, I bought a glass cabinet with a large wall, put them in, and became a landscape of our house.
As I grow older, I often think, how to stay away from Alzheimer's disease?
Maybe building blocks is a good choice.
However, the price of imported toys is relatively expensive. It would be great if there were high-quality and inexpensive domestic products.
Elderly residents of Sankangmiao Community, Zhanggong District, Ganzhou, Jiangxi, use fitness equipment to exercise.
Xinhua News Agency
【Expert Reviews】
Behind the little toys there is a big article on the construction of the old age culture
Small toys, big articles.
Toys for the elderly have entered the public's field of vision and gradually entered the market, reflecting the current changes in consumption patterns for the elderly, the rapid growth of spiritual and cultural needs, and the formation of a policy environment and cultural atmosphere for the whole society to respect, filial, and provide for the elderly.
For a long time, the public's awareness of the cultural needs of the elderly is incomplete or even negative.
It is imperative to accurately grasp the new contradictions in the transitional period of social development, timely understand the new changes in the cultural needs of the elderly, deeply understand the family and social functions of the cultural construction of the elderly, improve relevant policies and measures, and actively promote the elderly to have a good time.
At present, there are some outstanding problems in the construction of senior culture:
The cultural needs of the elderly have not received enough attention.
Compared with the material satisfaction and basic security of the elderly, people are obviously not paying enough attention to the cultural, spiritual, education, and social participation needs of the elderly, and there is even a tendency to ignore them.
The content and form of cultural construction for the elderly are relatively simple, and the degree of organization and social participation need to be improved.
The current cultural construction for the elderly is mainly implemented by the elderly, work units, towns (communities, villages) and other organizations, and the content is mainly cultural entertainment, learning and education, etc.
Due to the lack of normative guidance, the functions of self-management, self-service, self-education, and self-supervision of the elderly cultural groups cannot be effectively brought into play. The use of the elderly cultural groups to sell health care products and financial products, infringing on the rights and interests of the elderly also occurs.
The improvement of the quality of the elderly during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period puts forward higher requirements for cultural construction.
As the people born during the "baby boom" in the 1960s gradually entered the old age, the overall economic strength, education level, and health status of the elderly have improved significantly, their sense of autonomy is higher, and they accept new technologies and new ideas faster. The needs of spiritual culture, social participation and self-realization have become more prominent, and a rich and healthy spiritual and cultural life is needed.
The promotion of cultural construction and social participation for the elderly in the new era can be done from the following aspects:
The first is to give full play to the basic role of the family and implement the rights and interests of voluntary supporters in the spiritual and cultural life of the elderly and psychological comfort.
Adopt a variety of methods such as education and guidance, legal enforcement, and moral restraint to guide people to consciously assume the responsibility of family culture construction, pay attention to and meet the needs of the cultural life of the elderly, and establish a good family tradition.
The second is to vigorously develop toys, entertainment and other cultural industries for the elderly.
Governments at all levels should improve support policies, encourage more enterprises and social entities to participate in the development of the elderly cultural industry, build a complete elderly cultural industry chain, promote the formation of industrial clusters, and design and manufacture more cultural products and cultural and entertainment appliances that meet the needs of the elderly.
The third is to promote the participation of the elderly in the construction of community communities.
In accordance with the principle of accessibility, improve the hardware construction of the community’s elderly culture, entertainment, education, sports facilities, and the organization of the elderly associations and professional talent teams, promote the sinking of cultural resources for the elderly to the community, and deliver cultural services and entertainment products to the elderly By your side, beside the bed.
The fourth is to vigorously develop the elderly cultural mass organizations, relying on them to rebuild the bond between the elderly and social groups.
It is necessary to focus on the cultural entertainment, spiritual psychology and value realization needs of the elderly, advocate and promote the self-education and self-management of the elderly, stimulate the elderly's self-esteem, self-respect, and proactive initiative, and continue to inject development momentum into the elderly society.
(Author: Huangshi Song, a researcher with the Department of Capital Development Strategy Research Institute of Renmin University of China)
(Project team: our reporter Chen Zhiyin and Wang Simin)