Toys have ceased to be the simple contraptions, or elementary games of yore that stimulated the imagination in children. They have now morphed into flashy, digital gadgets. But are these toys doing more harm than good to children?
In a report published online this month in the peer-reviewed Pediatrics , experts opine that the best toys for a child are those that foster play between a caregiver and child. It has warned families against using digital gadgets as a replacement to traditional toys and games.
The report, titled “Selecting Appropriate Toys for Young Children in the Digital Era”, is authored by Aleeya Healey, Alan Mendelsohn and the Council On Early Childhood. It focusses on toys for infants and up to those who have recently started school.
Total screen time
The report has also cautioned parents to limit video-game and computer-game use by young children. “Total screen time, including television and computer use, should be less than 1 hour per day for children two years or older, and avoided in those younger. Children less than five should play with computer or video games only if they are developmentally appropriate, and they should be accompanied by the parent or caregiver,” the report says.
The Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP), which does not have any such guidelines on appropriate toys for local children, now says it is essential to come out with a policy or recommendations for parents on choosing toys.
‘Simpler the better’
Says Dr. Samir Dalwai, developmental paediatrician, and former chairperson of the IAP’s Neurodevelopmental chapter, “Each child is an individual at different levels of development. The simpler the toys, the better it is for the child. Digital gadgets not only deprive the child of physical activity but also fail to challenge them. Playing a video game is easier for a child than playing with other children.”
The underlying principle of introducing toys remains to engage and stimulate the social, emotional and cognitive skills of a growing child, says Manoj Kumar Sharma, Professor, Clinical Psychology in the Service for Healthy Use of Technology (SHUT) clinic at the National Institute of Mental Health And Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru. “Toys should help stimulate the child’s symbolic thinking, motor development, problem solving ability, emotional expression, language, concept, verbal and non-verbal exchange with caregivers,” he recommends.
Sanjiv Lewin, chief of Medical Services and Professor of Paediatrics at St. John’s National Academy of Health Sciences, Bengaluru, says appropriate toys are dependent on age and developmental-milestones achieved by the child. He adds: “General rules for the early months are toys that are bright coloured, use faces, sounds, that are able to be held, sucked, squeezed, shaken, those with rounded edges with no small parts or balls/pellets and those that do not have electric parts and are made of non-toxic elements.”
Seconding Dr. Lewin, H.P.S. Sachdev, paediatrician at the Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research in New Delhi, says toys that increase parent-infant interactions and those that enhance physical as well as thinking activities would be ideal.
Asha Benakappa, paediatrician and former director of the government-run Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health in Bengaluru, says toys should not be prescriptive.
“Toys are not medicine to be prescribed for children. They should be chosen spontaneously by the child to his liking. Digital gadgets are not toys and cannot be a replacement for traditional toys,” she says.
Using traditional toys
She recommends traditional wooden toys such as the Channapatna toys, named after a town in Karnataka, which employ distinct processing techniques. “Our children should be playing with toys that suit our culture. Much before the clay moulds were introduced, our children enjoyed playing with balls of atta (wheat flour) while their mothers cooked,” Dr. Benakappa adds.
Mohammed Ayaz, a toy-maker in Channapatna, says that despite the invasion of digital gadgets, the wooden kitchen sets he makes continue to be popular.
yasmeen.afshan@thehindu.co.in
