31 Times Adults Took Kids' Stuff And Ruined It For Everyone, Really, As Listed In This Online Thread

da_predditor said:
Childhood. Parents who film their kid’s lives for likes and subs are s****y.

 HeftyPockets replied:
We really ought to pass a law about monetization of childhood. It shouldn't be lucrative to milk your children's lives at their expense.

OpalLaguz replied:
France is the only country to have laws explicitly protecting minor "influencers" with limitations on the hours they can be working online, protections for their earnings, and the ensuring their right to have content they feature in be removed upon their request.

Illinois just passed a law requiring influencer families to set aside 50% of earnings made from usage of minors in monetized social media content to be set aside in a blocked trust fund for the child. It's the first US state to do so.

Youth sports:

When I was a kid 30 years ago, you’d have a practice or 2 a week plus a game on Saturday. Then if you loved sports, you’d get together with buddies in your ample free time and mess around playing super fun pick up games.

Now, many kids are having full weekend tournaments like every weekend. And tons of practices. They rarely have the free time to just play with their friends for the fun of it.

Sure they are better athletes than we were, but are they better off?

After school hobbies!

Around the age of 47, I decided to pick up guitar again. So I went to a local school and enrolled as a adult. I would see parents harassing their kids and berating them for not being better. I think the majority of them have lost the idea that extracurricular activities are too help your child out of their shell and also to have fun. Not to make them a professional of any sort or the best of the best of the best.

Wizard_of_Claus said:
My Little Pony.

DoxieDoc replied:
I watched it with my sister growing up. At one point we watched a video of a comic con or some such panel. A bunch of sweaty dudes were asking questions one after another. Then the sweetest little girl who was being encouraged by her dad stepped up to the microphone and very timidly (but bravely) asked about one of her favorite characters.

The scoffing and jeers coming from the crowd for the little girl not already knowing some fandom trivia was f*****g disgusting. Had I been the father that day I would have taken the mic and given them an earful.

Lucky-Advertising501 replied:
There’s nothing worse than those kinds of nerds. My heart aches for that little girl!

I think video gaming, in a way, has been ruined.

The market for adults is larger than children and that's fine because video games aren't only for kids anymore but I've noticed how hard it is to find games for kids that are actually good.

All the most popular kids games are fuelled by micro transactions, season passes, always online and crazy YouTube personalities screaming obscenities at children.

What happened to games like Spyro? A cool little dragon trying to do the right thing and fight evil. No blood, no gore, no AR-15s or grown men in their thirties hurling insults at you down a mic.

When I was ten I wanted to run like Sonic did. My nephew is ten and he wants an Assault Rifle from Fortnite...

I dunno, maybe I'm just outta touch.

IronBabyFists said:
The obvious answer to this: the future.

corpsie666 replied:
This is the best answer in the thread.

I originally read it as if you were being sarcastic, and then my brain really processed it and realized how correct it is.

PumpkinPieIsGreat said:
YA books. I'm an adult that reads them. But the characters are TEENAGERS. People get upset that teenagers act like teenagers, in books targeted at... you guessed it, teenagers.

Gneissisnice replied:
I'm always amused by goodreads reviews on YA books where they're like "the characters were immature!"

Well yeah, no s**t. They're like, 13.

That's actually part of why I like YA. Characters make dumb decisions but it's part of their growth and they come out better for it.

In adult books, when the characters do something stupid, I'm like" you're 40! Why are you acting like this??? "

Sol-Blackguy said:
Pokemon Cards. Scalpers were so down horrendous they were raiding McDonald's during the pandemic

TheFleshPrevails replied:
Most hobbies get this treatment now. Losers wanting to play stock market and ruining games in the process.

InspectionLong5000 replied:
There was a post here recently about scalpers buying up f*****g driving tests.

It's gone beyond causal hobbies/recreational activities.

People in the UK paying "brokers" £500+ because they use bots to buy all the test slots when they release.

Life is so strange at the minute. Everyone has a side hustle out to make money at other peoples' expense.

Flipping houses, cars, trainers, Pokémon cards, concert tickets, driving tests, you name it. If you need it, be prepared to pay extra.

Disney

Also just want to chime in and day this isn't really the fault of adults today. I'm a 34f and I'm not really an adult. Neither are most of my friends. There was no "adult" space for us to move into. The boomers are STILL working and living in their homes so we're working ok jobs, renting with roommates or living with our patents and spending money on stuff/experiences that's marketed towards a "young adult" lifestyle because then at least we get some enjoyment. There's a concentrated marketing agenda towards infantilizing young adults so we don't have meltdowns over the fact that most of our lives are below that of our parents.

Pretty much any fandom aimed at kids.

The main one that comes to mind is My Little Pony. Dudes in their 40s obsessing over and sexualizing these characters is about the creepiest thing I can think of.

Build A Bear: As a former employee I don't care if you came in and bought some stuff animals. Hell, there's some cool ones like pokemon. HOWEVER just cuz I worked there doesn't mean I have a whole collection myself and watch every show and movie that's partnered with the company.

Yes I was an adult man working at a stuffed animal store. Yes I bought a couple pokemon for myself. No I don't wanna hear another grown man passionately talk to me about My Little Pony and PLEASE I DONT WANT TO SEE A CUTIE MARK TATTOO YOU HAVE ON YOUR A*S CHEEK EVEN IF THERE'S NO KIDS IN THE STORE CURRENTLY.

chris14020 said:
Pretty much any kids' toy. The scalpers are working harder than ever to f**k it up. Video games? Check. Pokemon/whatever is popular cards? Check. Lego sets? Check as f**k. Fuzzy egg furby like critters? Check check. If scalpers can leech money out of people with it, they'll do it.

PinkFloralNecklace replied:
Screw it, scalpers just ruin things for everyone else in general. I hate when bots buy out items just so someone can resell it for twice the price. It’s frustrating that people who might genuinely want/need that product now might not be able to buy/afford it just because someone else was greedy. It also just gets kind of absurd with some things where scalpers get 10+ stockpiles of items that already aren’t cheap just to hopefully resell them at an even higher price. I get wanting to make money, but scalping is pretty scummy most of the time and definitely ruins things for a lot of people.

raviolixx said:
the word ‘daddy’

Faustias replied:
the only time my mind didn't spark its horny-a*s neutrons on the word daddy is when that smurf guy on guardian of the galaxy said it: He's was your father, but he ain't your daddy.

Ok-Alternative8714 replied:
My grandma had tons of black and white musicals where the women constantly called the men daddy. And then the men called the woman baby. Judy Garland and Fred Astaire era, I don’t know when that was, the 1940’s. It confused me as a kid.

So I think it’s really funny when people complain about how weird young people are using the terms, when the Boomers had it in so many popular movies and songs. (I’m not saying you were complaining. I just hear a lot of people talk about it like it’s a recent thing)

aprairiehocompanion said:
Minions.

moonbunnychan replied
I remain baffled as to how and why minions, of all things, became the thing of choice for unfunny boomer memes.

bpwhittle replied:
I’m convinced it has something to do with the overalls.

Nyami-L replied:
My mother does love them, but I put her the first movie (with Gru, not the minions alone) when she almost died from a sickness. It was one of the things that got her to laugh in a bad time in which she was bedbound.

Dont-ask-me-ever said:
Trix.
 
lamtevya replied:
When I was a kid I felt so bad for that rabbit. I still don’t understand the idea behind that marketing campaign. Was it- being greedy and mean is hilarious. Buy our cereal”?

Just give the bunny some cereal you sadistic little s**ts.

They ran an ad for a little while that was a campaign that allowed you to vote on whether or not the rabbit would get some Trix. I think you had to mail in a box top with your vote or something. I voted “share” with all of my sensitive little heart. “Greed” won by a landslide. That’s when I first became disillusioned with voting and people in general.

annqueue said:
I'd say Earring Magic Ken, but I don't think all the gay men buying it ruined it. They made it more awesome.

throwaway384938338 replied:
Earring Magic Ken wasn’t really ruined by adults. Mattel clumsily copied a gay-sex trend in an attempt to be hip. It was cursed from the start.

MysteriousStaff3388 replied:
That’s one of the best marketing mistake stories ever. I love this for Mattel.

Clowns. My daughter was able to enjoy them when she was little but now they just make her think of killer clowns. I get that a lot of kids (and adults) were scared of them regardless but these days scary clowns are almost the only kind I ever see, and I think that’s kind of sad.

Edit: Clowns as we picture them have been around for like 140 years but they definitely weren’t considered scary by the masses until the last few decades. Lots of things we currently find terrifying weren’t typically considered that back in the day. For example, look up old pictures of people dressed as Easter bunnies. You’d think they’re objectively terrifying but without the popularity of the horror genre most people just didn’t feel that way. Of course there’s always been people freaked out by these things - kids are often scared of people in any costumes, as any mall Santa can tell you - but “Ronald McDonald” would not have existed if clowns were as commonly considered creepy back in the day. I don’t think it’s a huge loss to society or anything but it’s an interesting shift. I had not expected to spend a lot of time convincing my preschool aged kid that “killer clowns” don’t actually run around killing people.

Snow-Dog2121 said:
Hot wheels.
 
Dwike2 replied:
Worst memory I have of comic con. An exhibitor gave a kid what must’ve been an exclusive at their booth. Grown men rushing and crowding the kid pressuring him to sell his toy. His parents moved him away promptly but I imagine he was shaken up by the experience. Went from a cool moment of unexpectedly getting a toy to grown weirdos getting in his face.

linoleumknife replied:
The collectors be crazy. 20 years ago I worked the night shift at Target stocking shelves, and most mornings we would have the same 3-4 guys come in right after we opened to search through the Hot Wheels we put out overnight. And for all I know they were hitting Walmart next.

bigredthesnorer said:
Beanie Baby collectors.

Delores_Herbig replied:
This photo of a divorcing couple dividing their beanie baby collection in court always makes me laugh. So ridiculous that people thought they were like stocks.

xXSushiRoll replied:
You should've seen the squishmallow community during COVID. It was just nasty.

illy-chan replied:
Random speculation really went up a notch during lockdowns. The retro/used video game market went from spotty to absurd across the board.

Franko_Magic said:
McDonald's.. remember when it was all colourful with dumb character mascots and playgrounds?

KnoWanUKnow2 replied:
McDonalds itself is responsible for that. They originally targeted young families, which is why they had playgrounds and ball pits and kids birthday parties. Then they decided that young adults were a better target as they had more money and less cooking skills. So McDonalds now has gourmet coffee and an app.

Eventually they may decide that nostalgia is big and start targeting boomers or something.

The_Sign_of_Zeta
Well, it’s that and they were getting a lot of s**t for targeting children with advertising unhealthy food, which caused food sales to drop.