It only took a few years for electric children’s buggies to invade the toy market in rich countries. Advertised on all online sales sites, they are available in a wide range of models and colors, with a clear preference for sports coupes, SUVs or even ATVs and racing cars with oversized tires.
Many of these carts are clearly marked replicas, with grille logos, of models from major automakers. There is the modest Volkswagen Beetle, but especially the Mercedes-Benz, Audi, GMC, Land Rover, Jeep, Mustang, Jaguar and other Lamborghinis of this world.
Their prices range from six hundred to a thousand dollars for the most sophisticated models, such as the two-seater Range Rover, which is 1.47 meters long and weighs 36 kg, with opening doors and leather wheels. , auxiliary LED headlights, Bluetooth radio and rear wheel drive. Its 24 volt battery allows it to support up to 50 kg.
While even baby boomers from affluent backgrounds had to settle for playing with miniature cars, their offspring now have access to functional models adapted to their size. Machines that she can drive with or without the assistance of a parental remote control, without ever fearing traffic jams…
Is this progress, or should we rather speak of regrets?
The law of least effort
Children from three to eight years old, for whom these carts are intended, need to develop their motor skills, therefore to move and move on their own. Walking, the pedal cart, the good old tricycle, the classic scooter are eminently more profitable means of transport for their physical and mental health than a ride behind the wheel for the pleasure of imitating the grown-ups.
Parents already tend to spare their children independent travel. They frequently drive them to daycare and then to elementary school, unless the school bus takes care of that, as with many high school students. This service, which may be necessary in the regions, has become the norm even in urban areas, more for security reasons.
The tendency of adults to spare young people effort reduces the toll of their daily exercise. However, the insufficient expenditure of energy is, together with a diet rich in bad fats and sugar, the main cause of childhood obesity, which is reaching alarming proportions in the West as well as in many emerging economies.
The benefit of such a cart is not obvious either in terms of socialization. The little driver can make himself popular for a time with his comrades by inviting them to ride alongside him, or even by lending them the steering wheel; however, he will soon have to dismount again in order to share their games as a group, on pain of exclusion. Self-exclusion, in this case.
Environmental and social impact
The manufacture of these extraordinary toys requires materials, minerals and labor that would benefit from being used to carry out the energy transition, in particular the manufacture of the components of real electric cars.
But even more than the electrification of transport, we must focus on reducing the size of the car fleet and increasing the number of occupants per vehicle. It is not by instilling a taste for solo driving in toddlers that we will make them adults inclined to use public transport, carpooling, cycling and walking.
Impermeable to these arguments, the toy industry is stepping on the accelerator. In its quest for legitimacy, it managed to interfere in public institutions through sponsorships. This is how more and more of these carts are found in the corridors of our hospitals, supposedly to calm the anxiety of toddlers on the way to the operating room. A staff member then provides remote control of the cart instead of holding the young patient by the hand or carrying him in his arms, as was previously done in preference to transport by stretcher bearer.
Not only do the golf carts advertise the major brands that inspire them, but some dealer-donors go so far as to inscribe their company name on the bodywork. Rather than applaud, parents and healthcare managers should worry about this loss of human contact in favor of a marketing tool, however playful it may be at first sight.