Keeping up on this theme, Christine Rosen offers a slightly fleshed out version of this article I blogged last month. And by "fleshed out," I mean there's two extra paragraphs.
Excerpt:
Susan Swanson, who works for the Excelligence Learning Corporation and has been an arts educator in Monterey County, California schools, has similar concerns. “Electronic toys don’t encourage dramatic play,” she says. “And what is going to happen to these kids who are used to having a quick electronic fix and who think things happen at the push of a button?” she asks. Parents can go to the other extreme too, of course. “I live near Berkeley,” Swanson says with a chuckle, “and you can find stores there where the only toys are those made entirely out of recycled tires or natural fibers.”
Tech toys are here to stay, of course, in large part because anxious parents fear denying their children any novel advantage. “Parents believe that this is a way for their child to be ready for the academic setting,” says Crowe, “and you can’t fault parents for that.” But she encourages parents to limit their children’s use of such toys and to offer more traditional toys (such as building blocks, trains, and dolls) that encourage open-ended, creative play. Children also make their play preferences known, and they are often refreshingly low-tech. When asked by University of Stirling researchers what they most wanted to do during playtime, young children did not beg for quality time with T.M.X. Elmo. They wanted their parents to take them to the park. Sometimes, toddlers know best.
I'm a bit more cynical, so with regard to that first paragraph, I would posit that parents find additional appeal in that these gadgets keep kids out of their hair. Being the father of two toddlers, I can sympathize with folks who are tempted by toys that won't require any assistance beying swapping out double-As. But to tell me that a machine that screams the ABCs at my son is teaching him something at all - let alone in a way better than I could - falls somewhere on a continuum between condescending and insulting.
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http://www.stblogs.org/scgi-bin/mv/mt-tb.cgi/21297
Being married to someone who takes children's toys a little more seriously than the next mom, I'd agree with this entirely.
:) I was wondering what opinion you might have on this.
As a parent of toddlers myself, I have a different take. I'm quickly coming to see electronic toys (or electronics of any sort)as costly and risky things: you'd be amazed how quickly a toddler can dunk a handheld game into the dishwater when Mom sneaks off to the bathroom for 60 seconds.
That's a good point. Some kids take those things everywhere, too.