By Mark Svartz
They say necessity is the mother of invention. Well, this pandemic has certainly necessitated that a lot of families get inventive. Working from home necessitated inventive ways of zooming from the bathroom. Shuttered restaurants necessitated inventive ways of baking sourdough. And in my case, closed schools, playgrounds and theaters necessitated inventive ways of entertaining Jackson, my 5-year-old.
At first, we managed. We had a jigsaw puzzle period. Next we dusted off the old board games. But pretty soon, desperation pushed us to our last resort: screen time. Now, screens are a very polarizing topic. Some parents embrace it. Some forbid it. My wife, Caroline, and I are on the “tolerate” end of the spectrum. As kids, we grew up in front of the TV. I had breakfast with ThunderCats, dinner with Three’s Company, and weekends with Saved by the Bell. But that was a time when a single shared TV set was the only screen available. We still had other escapes. However now that every phone, watch and fridge is connected to Netflix, we quickly realized how inescapable these devices were becoming. Which is why when COVID shut down any other creative outlet, we felt the necessity to invent our own.
It all started with a magic kit I bought Jackson for his birthday. For weeks he took the time to master every trick in the book. Then one afternoon, his cousin came over for a playdate and I watched in amazement as Jackson transformed into David Blaine, proudly and patiently demonstrating how the tricks worked. He was so enthusiastic about it that his cousin immediately begged his parents to buy him the same magic kit. It was amazing to see how one kid’s passion could inspire another’s. And it made me think – what if we created a platform where all kids could use their creativity and ambition to inspire other kids. That’s how Ruckus was born. But the crazy part is how quickly it took off!
Local Dads Launch Ruckus – With Some Help from Their Kids
Started by myself and my longtime friend (and fellow dad), Dave, Ruckus pairs entrepreneurial kids with S.T.E.M.-based toys and books that match whatever they’re passionate about, from art to robotics to mermaids. They get to work with their moms and dads to create and share a fun video showcasing the toy they selected, and we build them their very own Ruckus shop to sell their toy to other kids who have similar interests. What’s really awesome is that kids actually earn a good chunk from every sale, which they get to split with whatever charity they’d like. That way, in addition to learning fiscal responsibility, they learn the values of social responsibility as well.
Ruckus is still just getting off the ground, but it’s amazing to see how much of an impact it’s already making. We’ve inspired kids like 12-year-old Poppy to learn film editing so they could edit their own shop videos. We’ve inspired a whole town of homeschoolers in Pennsylvania to buy tin can robot kits from 6-year-old Wolfgang so they could have a massive robot race. And we’ve inspired dozens of young entrepreneurs to give back to over 30 meaningful charities, from St. Jude’s to the Wounded Warrior Project to local animal shelters like the Brooklyn Cat Cafe who could really use the support.
A Growing Community
What started as a way to entertain one precocious 5-year-old during quarantine is now a fast-growing community of ambitious parents and kids who finally have a platform to educate, entertain and empower each other. The thing is, we didn’t set out to invent the modern-day lemonade stand. But turns out, the necessity was there.