I get what he's saying: Buy your kids some educational shit that will further their knowledge instead of just shit that does nothing more than entertain.
To their credit, my parents did just that while I was growing up. I'd get action figures, new games for the 2600 and shit, but then in the 4th grade they dropped one of these on me:
This ain't the one I had, but it's very similar. In addition, mine had a molecular modeling kit and rather advanced instructions on understanding molecular bonds, how they're formed, etc. I kept this at my grandmother's crib and every single time I went over there I would pull it out and follow the instructions on how to make shit, read why certain compounds reacted the way they did, and all kinda shit. Run out of chemicals I'd save my little money and we'd go to the hobby shop for more. I fully credit that single investment to my being able to understand shit in my science and chemistry classes all the way to Chem 138 in college.
Moms bought me this in the 7th grade:
Yeah, she was fully aware that I could play more vidya games on it, but word from parent-teacher conferences was that I was becoming a wiz at programming the computers we had at school, so to further that she bout me a decent one of my own.
A year later thanks to a science fair project where I wired my sister's doll house for electricity, placing lights in every room my parents bought me this:
Which got me into electronics even heavier.
Birthdays I started seeing shit like this:
(I literally had all three of those books and then some for my Atari)
alongside stuff like game carts for my Vectrex, 2600, or 800XL, Transformers or Gobots, etc.
I had subscriptions to Radio Electronics magazine as well as various computing mags before I was 15. My parents made an investment in my future along with giving me games and toys and shit. It ain't gotta be an encyclopedia, but books that stimulate a child's mind ain't a bad thing to buy them alongside their distractions.