“Clack! Clack! Clack!” There it goes again: the new trendy toy taking the country by storm, called “Lato-Lato” (also known as  “Clackers” in Western countries).  

It’s a simple toy: two plastic balls tied together with a string. The objective is to make the balls hit each other by moving them in a specific way, while keeping a steady rhythm so the player can out-clack the others.

This trend all started due to a Tiktok involving the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, who is seen playing with one. It quickly spread throughout Singapore and Indonesia, and soon enough, it got to the Philippines where both children and adults post actively on social media about their shenanigans with lato-lato.

Recently, GMA News reported that Barangay Holy Spirit in Quezon City is considering the ban of the lato-lato due to it inciting a riot. What started off as a normal lato-lato showdown became a big fight involving an entire street’s worth of children. 

Adults expressed concern on how this toy, or the way it’s being played, brings out such aggression in these children, and that is why they advocate for the ban. Other people simply expressed annoyance with the clacking sound, which is why they agree with the said ban. 

It seems that the general consensus, at least of the people featured in GMA’s report, is that they want this toy gone.

Do we really need to ban its existence? We think not. Here’s a list of pros according to this study: 

• It lessens the excessive use of gadgets
• It improves their cognitive and motor skills, as they learn to clack 
• It gives fosters a competitive spirit while playing with their friends, and encourages them to have goals, first of which is to have the clacking rhythm 
• It can help control their social-emotional development as they may feel a lot of emotions as they play. 
• It can inspire creativity through innovating new styles in playing with it 

Though it is capable of causing real physical harm, taking drastic measures like this ban might simply incite distrust and general dislike towards the barangay’s governing body. An effective solution might be for the barangay to find another way for these children to channel their energy, so it doesn’t turn to aggression. A ban shouldn’t be the go-to solution for everything.

After all, we only get to be children once.