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High-Tech Toys
It's hard to miss them in toy stores. They talk, blink, whistle, light up, and practically sing and dance by themselves. Even toys for the very tiniest youngsters. Good old stuffed animals have become "interactive plush toys" that move and talk back. Keyboards play music by themselves, or prompt babies with flashing lights. Even that old standard, nesting boxes, may now have an electronic base that makes animal sounds and states their corresponding names. All this is undoubtedly appealing to new parents. After all, many of us love buying high-tech gadgets for ourselves. But beneath all the seductive bells and whistles lies a crucial question: Are high-tech toys good for babies? Babies don't learn from complicated gadgets, but from the world around them. She explains that one of the earliest developmental tasks for children is to get their senses-touch, sight, sound-working in synchrony with each other. Children learn, for instance, that if they pick up a spoon and bang it on a box, it makes a sound, caused by the impact of the banging. But if a toy makes sounds on its own, or if pushing buttons produces noises and flashing lights, that can be very confusing. It only diverts the child's brains from making sense of the world. Babies playing mostly with toys like that may have learning problems later on - some experts consider. Playing with toys children do their own little experiments to see how the world works. But still those things that are babies' favorite toys today have been babies' favorite toys forever - everyday objects that they can explore and find out about. For example, they play with mixing bowls and learn how the little bowl fits into the big bowl, how things fall down instead of up and so on. Surround your child with simple, old-fashioned, hands-on toys such as drums, bells, keyboards, nesting cups and bowls, rattles, etc. And remember that the best children's toys don't always come from stores. If you spend a lot of money on a high-tech toy, you run the risk that your child might prefer playing with the box instead of learning new things about the wonderful world around.
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