You cannot play catch inside the house. Not now. Not ever. It was a hard and fast rule in my boyhood home. The rule no longer stands. My granddaughters often play catch inside the home but not with a ball but a mini-drone.
A ball thrown about the house was bound to hit something, a lamp or worse. It could and would do damage. The mine-drone has sensors that keep it from smacking the wall or other objects in its path. Oh, it might touch them lightly but for the most part it veer away while still inches from the object blocking its path.
Hold a hand in front of the drone and it reverses course and heads toward the other player. The game can last for up to twenty minutes and then the little unit requires recharging. We have been using it since Christmas and so far it has caused no damage. Well almost no damage. Little children with even slightly long hair must either wear a hat or tie the hair back. If the little drone approaches too close to the head, it can pull loose hair in and the hair can become tangled about the rotors and shafts. No fun.
When I was a boy all the good toys were made in Canada or the States. A few came from Europe. Today essentially all my grandchildren's toys come from China and many are surprisingly sophisticated.
I, too, had a small flying saucer that could do a lot of neat manoeuvres but mine pulled off its greatest feats thanks to the imagination of a small boy. I cannot help but wonder if there were not some benefits to powering toys with gobs of impressive imagination rather than oodles of hi-tech smarts.
No comments:
Post a Comment