Toying with a Child’s Psychology

Toys given to children tend to have so much influence on their physical, mental and psychological wellbeing that they can make or mar their future.

A child without toys is like laughter without joy, incomplete. Playing is what comes naturally to every child. So, if playing is child’s work then toys are his tools and there can be no denial of the fact that toys given to a child, when young, can make or mar his future.

Play provides numerous occasions for children to learn and grow. Recent findings show that educational toys that foster the development of new learning skills may leave a permanent imprint on young brains that can help them adapt as adults.

What Toys are Meant to Achieve
To be able to appreciate the hullabaloo made with respect to a knick knack like a toy one must try to answer the question – are toys meant to merely play the role of a source of entertainment or a baby sitter until the mother can finish with her household chores or are they capable of achieving something else?

The role of a toy seems to be much greater than this. Ever seen a child pretend that his stuffed toy was in fact alive and talking, like in the cartoon strip – ‘Kelvin and Hobs’? Or, watched him pull his wooden truck laden with goodies to the nearby town?

According to Dr. Runjhun Shetye, a Physiotherapist and specialist in paediatric neurology, at the Spolding Rehabilitation Centre, Boston, “Toys are basically instruments used to bridge the gap between a child’s fantasy world and the reality. They do this by stimulating a child’s imagination that has still not been burdened with reality.”

How Toys Help in Stimulating Imagination
Role of Colors: For a child’s young mind, color is the first and the largest stimulus. An array of colorful objects excites them and tends to develop their interest towards an object. When a child colors a pig blue or grass pink, parents may pretend that it is okay, but covertly they are worried if he is learning to comprehend reality properly.

According to Handmade Homemade Toy shop, a toys manufacturing company, being a parent your primary endeavor should be to assist the child in developing a correct perception of the world that he is now very much a part of. Children eventually learn to associate a certain color with a certain object and thus develop correct perception. Parents can hence, buy brightly colored toys illustrating common objects such as a cow, a fish, a train or a kitchen set, so that the child can experience them even without having the real things made available. “Brightly illustrated books are also a big aid in doing so”, says Dr. Runjhun.

Role of Size and Touch: The second stimuli which is most observed by children is size and touch. By looking at the size of an object or living creature, he learns to attribute or associate a certain set of functions and characteristics with that object / creature. Toys give kids an opportunity to experience these behaviors.

In the hands of your little one, a toy cat is truly capable of mewing, a toy policeman capable of rescuing innocents and capturing the bad guys and a train can really whistle and haul people and goods from one destination to another. When a child enacts such scenarios, it brings out his perception of reality into the forefront.

Physical or Electronic Toys Debate
There is no denying that today, electronic toys are available in a huge spectrum of colors and of far more superior software. But the question is, are these toys the right way of developing a child’s perception or understanding? Whether it is a complex scientific concept or a simple day to day affair that you wish to explain, an electronic toy can never surpass the benefits of a physical toy. For example, while teaching counting of numbers to your little one, don’t you think it is far better to give him some wooden blocks rather than show the same thing on the computer. Well, ‘doing is learning’ after all!

Further, electronic games tend to instill a misplaced spirit of competitiveness amongst the children. By proving a reward in the form of ‘win or lose’ at the end of the game, they have invaded the basic structure of our children’s learning process with a ‘reward factor’ as the goal rather than the basic elements of the activity at hand.

Further still, the impact that war games have on the psyche of our children is known to every body. In an atmosphere of growing terrorism and violence, electronic toys are the last things that should be made available to them.