Hilltown Families 
Q&A: Newest Schoolyard Fad
QUESTION AND ANSWERS
"...children don't seem to trade them, they GIVE them to each other, like friendship pins. Remember those?" - Shannon (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)
Kids (even adults) are going crazy over Silly Bandz! What are your thoughts on this new fad? What do your kids think about them?
- Sandie DeLuca Richardson wrote: Over priced colorfully shaped rubber bands… seriously
- Marianne Bullock wrote: Stupid.
- Lisa Beskin wrote: If we ever passed them in the store we’ve never see the bag of stringy plastic. A few weeks after that I saw a story about them being banned from some middle school and about three weeks later now suddenly see them on kids everywhere. Nice of the news to bring the cruddy Chinese plastic bag o’ waste to everyone’s attention. I have since seen the item at Target in the pressure spots by the registers. Fortunately, my kids have accepted that plastic sucks. No new plastic in the house. However, we are struggling with whether or how much to keep of old toys/stuff already owned before our enlightenment.
- Shannon Malone Kopacz wrote: Love ’em. Compared to Pokemon, Backugon, and name brand clothe$ these are a God Send. I have also seen children being incredibly generous with these. The children don’t seem to trade them, they GIVE them to each other, like friendship pins. Remember those?
- Marianne Bullock wrote: KEEP drilling for oil so our kids can cover their bodies in it!!! Yippee!
- Christa Pylant wrote: Fun! Strange in their success and definitely over-priced.
- Brooke Norton wrote: Just a note – they are made of silicone, not a petroleum product.
- Heather Richardson wrote: I don’t get them… luckily my kids are only 3 and 1 so they aren’t in the fad.
- Kett Lawrence wrote: I remember loving bracelets similar to that in the 80’s. I don’t see the big deal, just kids having fun and getting into something. It’ll pass and there will be another fad soon after that. Also, they’re made of silicone, not petroleum. I think some parents just forget how much fun it is to be a kid and trade things, like little over priced bracelets. I mean, c’mon, are these really hurting anyone? Aren’t there bigger things in the world to worry about then colored silicone bracelets that kids are into? Who cares if kids want and have them! It’ll be something else next year. It’s all just part of being a kid and being silly. Loosen up folks!
- Lisa Beskin wrote: Christa, how much are they?
- Bridget Sweet wrote: My kid loves them. Her teacher banned them from her class though. Rite Aid sells them. Not interested. I wore the Madonna O-ring bracelets forever so not new to me.
- Christa Pylant wrote: Lisa, we were vending them for $3 for a bag of maybe 10? In department stores they may be ~ $2. They’re kinda fun, all shaped liked different things. I like just trying to figure out what they’re s’posed to be!
- Jen Smith wrote: Both my boys went crazy for them, especially my 4 yr old
- Julie Gouldman Russell wrote: He’s not asking for them and I’m not pushing them. Glad they weren’t in his school before school let out for the summer. Just another fad. If he wants them, he can pay for them out of his own spending money – I don’t want to spend my $ on them.
- Shoshona King wrote: I like watching kids trade them, it seems like a quality interaction.
- April Butler Albrecht wrote: For me, it isn’t about the interaction, it’s about the idea of buying into every little fad that comes out. I don’t believe children should be encouraged to spend money on everything that society or their peers thinks is “cool.” However, as an adult I love my Iphone, certain brands of clothing, etc. I don’t encourage these fads, but if my kids have friends that trade them or wear them, I don’t tell them they can’t have one or play with them. I find them to be ridiculous, but I remember my interest in some pretty ridiculous, yet FUN things in my childhood.
- Bessie Jones wrote: I was just introduced to these last week by my 4 and 6 year old. Two days ago they were included in a curriculum training at work. Now I’m reliving the 80’s with fluorescent band syndrome.
Share what you think too!
Rachel –
Here’s a post on how to use Silly Bandz for educational activities as manipulatives traditionally used in classroom environments, including for sorting, counting, graphing, economics:
http://sortingthroughlifeslessons.blogspot.com/2010/08/silly-bandz-activities.html
That’s funny Bessie! What was the curriculum? I wonder.
I like the shapes aspect, it makes u think outside the circle and seems to increase visual/space awareness and healthy interaction over new discovery.
Well, I do think that kids are hard-wired to latch on to trends and fads. I remember some of the more entrepreneurial kids in my school (30 years ago) actually running some pretty successful cottage industries supplying classmates with whatever was hot at the time for a healthy markup.
I also remember, however, that equally popular was the friendship bracelet. This is something that kids actually used their creativity to create and cost only as much as a little embroidery floss. Another plus was that, because they took time and patience to create, when you gave one away to a friend, it actually meant something–not to mention the value of learning a craft that might tie in to other, more sophisticated arts later on.
I found a great link to some friendship bracelet patterns that even pretty young kids can do:
http://www.how-to-make-jewelry.com/friendship-bracelet-patterns.html
My children are uninterested and/or just too little to get the concept of a fad, but I think it’s pretty harmless as fads and crazes go– except insofar as they might become a choking hazard in a home with a very small child. But so are the thousands of legos all over the place over here!