Psychologists are concerned about how much the quality of the children's game of modern preschoolers has changed: it has become monotonous, aggressive and individualistic. One of the reasons for the sad trend is many fashionable toys that inhibit the development of the child, distort his emotional sphere and form negative character properties. Child psychologist Inna Malash told the portal about dangerous "prestige toys".
More than a game
For a kid, a toy is an indispensable tool for cognizing the world around him, which allows him to master new actions and solve new and increasingly difficult tasks. Therefore, adults should take full responsibility in choosing toys - not only take into account the age of the child and make sure of their sanitary and hygienic safety, but also know the criteria for the pedagogical and psychological usefulness and harmfulness of “childhood friends”. To do this, it is important to have an idea of \u200b\u200bthe importance of the game for the child:
- the game is the leading activity of a preschooler, determining the development of his intellectual, physical and moral forces;
- the game forms a creative imagination;
- the game is a "school of arbitrary behavior" (the child learns to consciously manage his actions);
- a game is a “school of morality in action” (it is a game and a fairy tale that helps a child understand “what is good and what is bad”; verbal explanations can be long and unsuccessful);
- in the game, the child learns to communicate, interact with other people and learns about himself;
- in the game, the child learns to express his feelings and understand the feelings of other people;
- in the game there is a repetition of social practice, accessible to the understanding of the child.
Harmful toys
At first glance, it may seem as if there is nothing complicated in determining which toys can harm the baby's development. So, toys are unconditionally harmful that do not awaken the child’s desire for knowledge of the world around him or make independent and free creative play impossible.
However, in practice, it is often difficult for non-specialists to draw the line between the toy “good” and “evil”. In addition, many adults are confused by the price factor: most toys harmful to the child's psyche are by no means cheap, so they are not in doubt about their “comprehensive” safety.
So, with what toys does the child psychologist Inna Malash categorically not recommend introducing preschoolers?
Female dolls (Barbie, Cindy, Bratz, etc.). Playing with an “adult” doll, a little girl is limited in her ability to imitate her mother. This adversely affects the attitude of future women to motherhood.
Many psychologists are convinced that Barbie dolls and their analogues are the embodiment of the anti-cult of the guardian of the hearth. Opinions are also expressed that female dolls with unnatural proportions are capable of dropping the first grains of dissatisfaction with their own bodies into the souls of girls. In the future, “shoots” are possible in the form of such mental disorders in girls as anorexia and bulimia.
Scary toys (monster dolls, mutants, monsters, freaks). If traditional toys - kind and cute - perform a psychotherapeutic function (namely, they help children master their fears and defeat them), then the creepy products of the toy industry, on the contrary, bring an additional portion of nightmares to the lives of children.
These toys have a direct impact on the formation of character traits: the child, copying the image of the doll, identifying with it, can become closed, incredulous, angry. Also, toy monsters - "companions" wake up uncontrolled aggression in children, cause impaired concentration and distribution of attention, can be the reason for difficulties in building a child’s relationship with peers and adults.
In addition, scary toys distort the sense of beauty, which means that they prevent the formation of an aesthetic taste in children.
Electronic toys (transport, musical), creating the illusion of a child’s activity, actually manipulate him and set a program of action. In essence, a small person turns into a contemplatively passive “addition” to a toy, his activity is reduced to pressing buttons that are useless for the development of logic. And the lack of space for ideas, fantasies, transformations and experiments inhibits the development of the child’s creative thinking.
Interactive dolls and animals contribute to the distorted development of the sphere of emotions and feelings. Having in its arsenal many responses to interaction with a person, these toys emotionally “disorient” the baby: they can respond to stroking and wiggling with weeping or sounds of displeasure, and aggression or inattention for a long time - with hugs or joyful cues.
Ways to Resist Toy Insidiousness
Parental awareness of the psychological dangers of modern toys, alas, does not guarantee a quiet life for adults, and a happy and safe childhood for children. Aggressive advertising and laudable annotations ordered by toy manufacturers are doing their dirty deed. Therefore, it is important for mothers and fathers to know how to act if ...
... the child dreams of a harmful toy. First of all, parents should think about what attracts the baby in the toy. To do this, find out how and in whose company the child is going to play with her. The answer is “I will beat her!” indicates suppressed aggression. It can cause dissatisfaction with the basic psychological needs of the child in love and care. Also, aggression is often provoked by resentment against parents or other close people (grandmother, brother, friend, etc.).
Joint games and parent-child conversations will help to solve the problem, as well as special game methods to reduce the level of aggressiveness (for example, you can shout in a glass, arrange a fight with newspaper snowballs, mold the figure of the offender from plasticine and break it, etc.).
If a child wants to attract peer attention, he will say: “I will bring a toy to kindergarten, and then Masha (Vanya) will play with me.” Also, children are often asked to buy them this or that toy, because “Masha (Vanya) has one”. A possible root of the problem is the low self-esteem of the baby. In this case, it is important for parents to review their parenting practices. The second common reason is that the child has not formed playing skills. They can be developed only by playing regularly with a preschooler.
... the child was presented with a harmful toy. Ideally, relatives and friends should inform their parents about what toys they are going to give. But in reality, not a single family is safe from unwanted gifts. Therefore, it is advisable for mothers and fathers to know what problems they may encounter if, after the holiday, they decide to get rid of a harmful toy.
First of all, it’s an offense of “donors”. Many parents do not even try to explain to relatives and friends what harm a gift toy can cause a child. They are stopped by hidden and poorly recognized motives (fear of loneliness and rejection, guilt, etc.). However, it is important for parents to understand that if they do not know how to negotiate with people, constructively argue and resolve disagreements, then they will not be able to teach their children this.
Secondly, the child can violently protest. In order not to overshadow the holiday, do not take away a gift from a happy baby. You can "isolate" a harmful toy in a few days. The main thing is to go to the end, not succumbing to the demands of the child to return the gift. If it’s difficult for adults not to deviate from the decision, then they should give in to thoughts about their parental role and honestly answer their own questions: “Is my child leading me?”, “Am I going about him?” Positive answers are a reason to think about the reasons.
Dangerous toys1. What is an "anti-toy"?
The toy in a special way programs the behavior of the child. And it is important to remember how the toy works, and what kind of program it carries in itself. Since there is good and evil, ideal and anti-ideal, a toy can be an anti-toy.
Russian artist Falk Robert Rafailovich (1886-1958), who once visited rich toy stores in Germany, contrasted a dying European toy and all the toy abundance he saw with unpretentious, at first glance, but possessing character, handicrafts of the Sergiev Posad region. He wrote: "... society uses a toy to curb the imagination, immediacy of a child not yet enslaved by machines, in order to instill in him those tastes and inclinations that will make him a future obedient instrument of his goals and his laws." This is precisely the purpose and peculiarity of the “best and most expensive” anti-toys today. A genuine toy is a work of art, it is a piece of goods, not a thing that children use to “play as adults”. The spiritual and moral meaning of the toy is its most important characteristic.
Modern children's stores are littered with creepy toys, and parents, not thinking about the consequences, buy them for their beloved sons, grandchildren, nephews ... But a bad toy is more than an ugly, non-functional item - it is an anti-toy that forms distorted values \u200b\u200bin the soul of the child.
The generalization of the work experience of the preschool teacher: "The influence of modern toys on the development of the child"
Author - compiler: Imangulova Liliya Kabirovna, teacher of MADOU No. 44 of the city of Salavat of the Republic of Bashkortostan.Description: This work will help educators and parents to choose the right modern toys for children.
Objective: to reveal how modern toys influence the development of a child.
I don’t need a pyramid,
A ball in the corner
And the railway
I'll give my brother ...
I now play cars
Tamogochi is sweeter to me.
Bakugan, transformer, zubls
It’s more fun with you ...
Toys are a serious matter. Perhaps no less serious than the choice of medicines, a nanny, kindergarten or school for your beloved child. Toys can develop, heal, entertain. But they are also able to upset the psyche, give a false impression of the world, cause aggression and simply pose a threat to the health and life of the child.
Let's think about what our children play? ... What toys do we buy them?
In all these fluffy hares, rattles, colorful puzzles, block cubes, a powerful - creative or destructive - educational force is hidden.
It should be noted that the modern toy market is an absolute element. The absence of any value reference points in the toy market leads to their uncontrolled production, unsystematic procurement and senseless consumption. As a result, store shelves and children's rooms are littered with the same type and, as a rule, useless and sometimes harmful toys, and there are very few necessary and important toys for children's development. This situation has a very negative impact on the quality of the game, and therefore on the developmental effectiveness of the child.
The choice of toys becomes extremely chaotic. The complex of "the best parents in the world" eats up their right mind. If the child buzzed all ears that Petya and Vanya had four Bakugan, and he only had three, then we immediately make up for the missing - albeit useless - cartoon character. Our child is no worse than others, although it is not clear at all why he needs this toy.
Thus, relevance The problem of choosing the right toy is obvious, which contributed to determining the purpose of my work.
Purpose:determine the psychological and pedagogical influence of the toy on the development of the child, the path of the right choice and its use. (task slide)
The exact time of the beginning of the manufacture of toys is very difficult to determine, but it can be assumed that they appeared at the early stages of the development of human society, as evidenced by excavations.
Since ancient times, toys in the form of tools, household items made of the simplest natural material have been known. With the help of such toys as, for example, bows, arrows, boats, made in miniature, but technically correct, the boys were taught the necessary skills for a hunter, fisherman, pastoralist, nomad. Playing with dolls, sewing clothes for them, and “cooking” taught the girls to work as a housewife.
But a modern child lives in a world that, at first glance, is much brighter and more diverse than its peer 200, 100, and even 40-30 years ago. Let's take a look: the bright covers of books and magazines, colored billboards on the street, and, of course, the diversity of toys, sometimes the most unimaginable colors, shapes, purposes. Toys are bought, as one father with many children said, with suitcases and a month later they are thrown out with suitcases as well. Constantly there is a change of colors, shapes, flickering pictures, objects. And the psyche of the child can not cope, the perception of color and sound, the idea of \u200b\u200bgood and evil, is deformed.
Consider some modern toys. For girls, of course, Barbie.
What life orientation for any baby do these magnificent beauties symbolize? Who are their daughters? Girlfriends Neither one nor the other. Possessing such a doll, the girl imagines herself not as a mother cradling a child, but, for example, as a maid, caring for a lady, cleaning her house.
Summarizing the work experience of the educator DOU "The influence of modern toys on the development of the child"
The most important advantage of a soft toy is to give tenderness to the baby. As practice shows, a cute bear, a fluffy elephant or a soft dog can "cure" a child from fears and even from night enuresis. In the soft toy some deep needs of a small creature are embodied.
What is being sold now? On the shelves of toy stores we see creatures of unknown species and breeds, an unimaginably flashy color. Here in the toy store sits a huge (growth of a person) black fierce-looking monkey - if it gets into the child’s bedroom, then night-time fears and neurosis are guaranteed for the baby!
To understand how my preschool children choose toys for their children and whether they need psychological and pedagogical help, I conducted a questionnaire survey.
As the survey showed, in most cases toys are selected and bought spontaneously, due to prevailing circumstances or external, superficial signs. Developing potential of a toy, its pedagogical “usefulness”, adults often do not take into account at all.
So the club "School for Parents" was organized, the aim of which was to introduce parents to the requirements and methods of choosing toys for babies.
A number of consultations were prepared on the topic: “Children’s toys and requirements for them”, “List of toys necessary for a young child and preschool children”, “Useless toys”. Also, parents were acquainted with the letter of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation of May 17, 1995 N 61 / 19-12 on the psychological and pedagogical requirements for games and toys in modern conditions.
During a business game: “We select the toy correctly,” together with the participants in the meeting they divided the toys into three groups.
Toys that promote social and emotional development: various types of animals (bears, bunnies, dogs); dolls with all kinds of dolls; sets for playing doctor, hairdresser, shop; details of costumes and attributes that help to accept and hold the playing role (doctor’s robe, steering wheel for a car, police cap, red cap); transport toys (truck, train). Toys that promote intellectual, cognitive and motor abilities: all kinds of cubes, designers, puzzles, mosaics, lottos, dominoes, etc. Toys that promote the development of physical qualities: balls, hoops, jump ropes, skittles.
During the work of our club, parents learned that there are certain requirements for the toy. The first and necessary requirement is the potential opportunity to become the subject of the relevant activity of the child. Choosing fun, parents began to focus on age, striving to have all kinds of toys at their disposal, contributing to the development of various spheres of life. They also began to take into account the fact that the possibility of an active action of a child depends on many qualities, for example, on the size of the toy. Huge soft “animals” (dogs, hippos, elephants), which are difficult to pick up, are not the subject of children's actions. The same toys, but smaller sizes may well be used in a children's game.
Sometimes it seems to adults that the more different properties and qualities a toy contains, the better. So, it would seem, a plastic ladybug on wheels, which is both a train and a phone, opens up various opportunities for children's activity.
But such “diversity” disorientates the child: he does not know what to do - carry it, talk on the phone or feed it? Moreover, the full implementation of all these actions is very limited - it is impossible to transport anything on such a toy (you will not put anything and no one will sit down), the telephone receiver will drop all the time. It would be much more useful in this regard to “disconnect” all functions and offer the child three different and understandable in their purpose and mode of action of the subject.
However, the “usefulness” of a toy from the point of view of child development is far from the only evaluation criterion. Organizing a round table with parents and children on the topic “Favorite Toy”, we came to the conclusion: a toy must, on the one hand, develop the child’s abilities, and on the other, bring him joy and pleasure.
The training "A modern toy - what is it?" Was interesting. It was noted that the toy should raise its developmental role, it should not only be attractive, but also open to various forms of activity of the child.
Little baby is a fan of opportunity. He actively assimilates the world in order to transform it, and a toy is a necessary means of the creation process. Therefore, the wider the range of applications of the toy, the higher its value for creativity and the more it can develop the creative potential of the child himself. Together with our parents, we came to the conclusion that the best toys are natural: pebbles, sand, cones, sticks, shreds - they can be everything! And what could be a machine? Only by machine, though if it is a truck, then it is probably also a box for storing cubes, a bed for a bear or a carriage for the cat to travel. And what could be an electronic toy with four buttons? Its monofunctional uniqueness is absolutely obvious - press the buttons and that's it!
Sometimes a child himself finds "toys" - substitute items that meet certain, often unconscious, of his needs. Some kind of shell, pebble, rag, bird feather are endowed with special properties, feelings and senses. After our interesting meetings, parents, having found such a “garbage”, trying to clean up the children's corner or, turning out the pockets of children's clothes before washing, do not throw them away. Now they are sure: better pebbles than a transformer, or a shell than a monster? After all, a toy is not only an accompaniment to a game, but also a means of training, entertainment, and even treatment.
A modern toy has undergone evolution: from small copies of objects of labor, household goods in antiquity - through toys that symbolize the beautiful in life (toys of the 19th - first half of the 20th centuries), to toys that embody an ugly, terrible death (recent decades).
Of course, not all modern toys play a negative role in the life of a child. Nowadays, there are such toys that meet the rules of modern pedagogy. These are educational toys, all kinds of designers, kits for creativity, story-shaped toys, puzzle games, etc.
The correct modern toy is multifunctional. It can be used in several ways, and in a variety of games. A classic example is the ball. It can be thrown and rolled, it can become a puppet watermelon or a fairy bun.
The correct modern toy should be made of environmentally friendly material (fabric, wood, metal, leather). It is unlikely to do without plastic toys, but you should strive to ensure that their percentage is as low as possible.
Remember: a correctly selected toy will allow the child to come up with various plots for games, which means that it will be more often in demand and will not become dusty on the shelf!
Toy and anti-toy
Leaving the eight-month-old baby in the care of her older brother, her mother went to the store. The eldest boy played tamagotchi and when the baby cried, he did not hear the squeak of a toy. Tamagoshka “died” - the baby ended up in the hospital with a concussion, the older boy is very stressed. Caring for a virtual “baby” has eclipsed feelings for a real little brother. A piece of plastic and microchips turned out to be aggressive in nature. By manipulating the child’s mind, he turned him into a toy slave, real love lost virtual ...
What are parents guided by when buying a toy for their child? Do they think that a toy is not just fun? It lays in the soul the initial concepts of good and evil, gives vivid, imprinted images, and the formation of moral and moral representations of the personality and its development as a whole often depend on what they will be. What is a modern toy? And what should it be? Vera Abramenkova, doctor of psychological sciences, professor, shares her view on this problem with our readers. Perhaps her approach to this issue, based on the best traditions of Russian culture and history, on the main Orthodox principles, will help parents formulate their own criteria for choosing toys. Or at least it makes you think before buying another doll or toy car: does my child need it? What psychological and pedagogical information does it carry? In a word, it will help to understand: the game is a serious matter.
A bit of history
In an interesting historical document “Catherine II on the upbringing and education of grandchildren”, the rules are given regarding the education of the princes through the game: three-year-old Konstantin and five-year-old Sasha, the future Tsar Alexander I. The very existence of such a document testifies to the extremely attentive attitude to children's games and toys. These are the orders of the Russian Tsarina Catherine the Great for the tutors (mentors) of her grandchildren. “The merriment of the character of Their Highnesses cannot be reduced. Not to forbid them to play as much as they want, if only the harmful would not enter the game, and would maintain decency in the game towards the people who are present.
Small malfunctions during the game do not appease. Their bailiffs should not interfere with the game, unless they themselves will be asked to participate in it. Games should be in the will of the children, if only those games were innocent, and their health from them did not suffer harm. "
The Russian tsarina rightly remarked: “Having given the children complete freedom in the game, you can learn more about their mores and inclinations ... When you feed the gaiety in children, you must remove from the eyes and ears everything that is contrary to it, such as sad imaginations or gloomy stories , also caressing ... Do not leave Their Highnesses never in idleness. If they don’t play and do not learn, then start to take off any conversation that is similar to their years and concept, through which they would gain knowledge ... ”. The wise reasonings and orders of the empress grandmother! They have not lost their relevance to this day.
For centuries, Russia had the highest birth rate in Europe. It was combined with a high children's game culture. Adults made toys with love and kept them, passing them from older to younger children. Some ancient games went down in history: grandmothers, burners, pile, blind glasses, tag, etc. In many games, special game items-toys were widely used: ropes, siskins, sticks, spinning tops, bats, etc.
Adults never stopped the begun games, did not destroy game constructions, did not throw out toys. Moreover, they endowed them with magical power. It was believed that they can contribute to the harvest, wealth, a happy marriage or, conversely, bring misfortune. Giving toys was a common custom - a gift brought the child health and well-being. Like any work of folk art, the toy served as a kind of standard, reflecting the centuries-old ideas about beauty and aesthetic perfection. This was well understood by Russian teachers. Already in the 60s of the XIX century K.D. Ushinsky, A.Ya. Simanovich and other teachers in their methods relied on national experience, using children's folklore, traditional toys and games. The most valuable in this regard was recognized homemade, created by the child in the process of independent work and opposed, in the words of Russian teachers, "rude, vulgar and immoral factory toys."
About the game of spools. Traditional toy at all times had an important influence on the formation of the soul of the child. It is worth recalling one historical example, which remained for the majority in the proverb, meaning something meaningless and empty - "the game of little bucks." The true meaning of this game is known only to historians today. This game was quite popular in Russian, mostly peasant, families back in the 30-40s of the century before last. Having its “practical task” - to accustom children to patience, to cultivate the ability to concentrate attention, the game at the same time gave an idea of \u200b\u200bthe complexity and interconnection of all processes taking place in the world. “Handicrafts” called a handful of evenly trimmed straws and a straw hook. The idea was that playing from the heap one by one pulled the straws with a hook, trying not to hurt the whole heap. If he did crumble, the next attempt was made by another player. The game fostered patience and caution, dexterity and attention, and most importantly - with the help of a pile of straws, the child unknowingly received an idea of \u200b\u200bthe cause-effect relationship, how difficult it is to change a part without destroying the whole - the entire complex system of relationships.
Nowadays, the game of spools was reconstructed, only now spools are made not of straw, but of wood. A bunch of small objects similar to elongated spools of thread, you need to take apart a small crochet so that the pile itself does not collapse, and the neighboring spools do not move. Whoever moves a nearby spylet passes the hook to the next player. This continues until the whole pile is sorted out or until one of the players picks up the agreed number of birulets. I think the game has a psychotherapeutic effect and can help develop perseverance and attention. Spillovers need not only patience, but also a benevolent attitude towards a playmate - without this, nothing will work. But what if, for example, two brawlers, as a punishment, are asked to take apart a bunch of spikes? At first, apparently, it will be difficult for them (emotions are seething: “He first climbed!”; Fists clench: “No, he first started!”, Etc.), but gradually the game itself will require that the conflict and aggression go away, “figured out”, like little spools.
About rattles, trinkets, rattles. It has long been a custom to give rattles to babies. These toys are several thousand years old. And over a hundred years ago, hot scientific debate arose around them. Some teachers, who had an excessive desire for scientific preparation of children from the youngest years and seriously assured that the object hidden within the rattle, making noise during movement, accustomed the child to thoughtlessness, since the reason for the noise was not visible to him. But others objected that any noise in itself is pleasant to the child, which is already very important. Noise, rustling, knock familiarize with the concepts of “sound, tone, volume”, teach to regulate the quality and power of their reproduction. Of course, it is also very important that from a certain time the child begins to correlate his own movements and the sound that appears.
About the mysticism of traditional folk toys and their wise mysterious power. After the baptism of Rus. Vladimir many customs and rituals associated with the ancient, pagan "toys", organically woven into the Orthodox religious and cultural context. So, one of the favorite children's toys of the "pre-Christian time" - a boat made of tree bark or birch bark, which was launched along a stream along the first water, began to symbolize the sailing of the "salvation ship" (like the biblical ark) on the "waters" of the bustling "sea of \u200b\u200blife". The traditional Russian toy in those times immemorial was not squeezed out of the sphere of everyday life. This was consistent with the attitude of the Russian man, standing on the ground with his feet, and with his soul, heart - abiding in the Highland. In the toy, in spite of its “familiarity”, there was something supernatural. It is no accident, for example, that dolls did not have faces: they feared that a toy with a face would come to life and live its own life, which could harm a person. No wonder the inanimate subject “doll” in Russian is an animated noun that answers the question “who?” And not “what?”.
As for the influence of a traditional toy on a child’s mind, it affected all levels of sensations - tactile, sound, visual. Of particular importance was the material from which the toys were made. For example, a rag doll, unlike a plastic one, removes the psychological barrier between the child and the "world of big things", brings up the gentle, warm, joyful, trusting attitude to the world, necessary for a full-fledged children's life. That is why today toys from natural materials are so appreciated.
But the ancient toy "whistles", according to the idea of \u200b\u200bour ancestors, designed to drive away evil spirits, evil spirits from the child, were also the first "musical instruments" that the child encountered.
Considering the figurative symbolic picture of the world of the ancient Slavs, as applied to toys, we can recall that many clay figures are literally strewn with images of birds. The bird - a messenger of the heavenly divine world - symbolized the grace of the Kingdom of Heaven, the joy of angelic singing, glorifying God's world.
Until now, the contour of the Cross can be seen at the base of traditional toys made by masters of Sergiev Posad.
In contrast to these traditions, the so-called "modern toys", most often produced according to Western models, do not leave room for "plotting the plot," independent spiritual and artistic creativity of the child.
Why do I need a game?
First, the game is a school of arbitrary behavior (DB Elkonin). Try to make the child stand still - he will not stand idle even for two seconds. But if this action is included in the game context, the goal will be successfully achieved. Remember: “The sea is worried - once, the sea is worried - two, the sea is worried - three. Freeze! ” After all, even the most restless boys and girls stand still and stand, even on one leg.
Secondly, the game is a school of morality in action (A.N. Leontyev). You can explain to the child how long it is “what is good and what is bad”, but only a fairy tale and a game can teach you to act and act in accordance with moral requirements through emotional empathy, through putting yourself in the place of another. Psychological research has shown that if “enemies” are included in the game interaction, in which they are forced to work together, caring for each other, mutual hostility will soon disappear, and vice versa - for friends who turn out to be game rivals, the excitement and desire to win are often stronger than friendship.
Thirdly, the game is a leading activity in the preschool age, an activity that determines the development of the child’s intellectual, physical and moral strengths.
According to the Russian historian and philosopher Vasily Zenkovsky, “play is free creativity, the most important manifestation of the aesthetic principle in man,” a means of penetrating the realm of meanings, comprehending the unity of the world and its Creator.
More K.D. Ushinsky noted how important it is to observe the children's game to determine the general and intellectual health of children. If a child does not express interest in games, is passive or plays stereotypically and primitively for his age - this is a serious signal for an adult: such a child requires special attention, this is a “special” child - maybe a genius, or maybe a dysfunctional ...
With the help of the game, training a child is more effective, and parenting is more pleasant. The game is a means of diagnosing the child’s mental state, his personal development, but it is also an excellent method for correcting certain defects, deficiencies, and developmental delays. One of the youngest psychological methods is game psychotherapy.
What is a toy?
Game and toy, according to scientists, are the most important components of any culture. What is culture, such are toys. A toy is a cultural tool through which the state of modern culture (civilization) is conveyed in a special “convoluted form”, the direction of movement: to life or death, prosperity or degradation, mutual understanding or alienation. With the help of a toy, the very essence of human relations and complex world order are transmitted to the child.
A game and a toy are a specific mass media, since the main tendencies of influence on a person’s consciousness and behavior, ways and means of his upbringing are fixed in them. The media is built on the principles of the game (why aren't modern newspapers with countless puzzles, crosswords, tea puzzles? And how many games are on television!), And the games are based on the principles of the media.
A toy is the same storage medium for a child as a newspaper or the Internet for an adult . Ask yourself: what information does it carry?
Toy is an agent of national information security. For example, dolls can be a political subject or, as they say, a political defendant. Sounds funny. However, if you recall the TV show "Dolls" with characters similar to our politicians (analogues of this program exist in many countries), you think seriously. In the United States, a scandal has recently erupted: the master made a doll in the form of a terrorist Bin Laden, which was sold briskly in stores. Young Americans really liked the new villain toy. Then - "for balance" - they made a doll-hero with the features of President Bush. The business turned out to be profitable - dolls literally disappeared from the shelves. And then the puppeteer got a call from the White House and, after a severe reprimand, was accused of anti-patriotism and undermining US national security. However, he managed to convince that the toys form an adequate attitude of young Americans towards the president and can positively affect the future election campaign.
A toy is a spiritual image of an ideal life, an ideal world, it is an archetype of ideas about good - genuine or imaginary. An authentic toy claims good and determines the distinction between good and evil. For example, a ball symbolizes the perfect shape of a ball - the Sun or the Earth. Pyramid - hierarchical world order. Please note: on the altar barrier in the temples of the angels they depict in full growth with flying ribbons in their hair, as if they had just come down from heaven, and the rustle of their wings is still heard, and in their hands they hold a transparent sphere (an image of perfection and harmony), similar to baby ball or rainbow soap bubble.
The toy always performed, among others, the psychotherapeutic function - it helped the child to master his own desires, fears. The fear of darkness, for example, can be defeated with the help of a wooden sword - a weapon to overcome it. Sometimes a child himself finds "toys" - objects-functionaries that meet certain, often unconscious, of his needs. Some snags, pebbles, shells, carnations, rags, bird feathers, etc. are endowed with special properties, feelings and senses. We often find such “garbage” when trying to clean up the corner of the children or twisting the pockets of children's clothes before washing. And every time we come across protests and requests of the child not to throw them away. It’s worth considering: maybe pebbles are better than a transformer, or a shell than a monster? Remember: a toy is not only an accompaniment to a game, but also a means of learning, entertainment, and even treatment. Are these modern toys?
A modern toy - what is it?
One of the main means of spiritual and moral education is the creation of such an educational environment that allows you to build a hierarchy of moral values \u200b\u200band ensure the full life of the child. The most important part of the educational environment is the game and the toy.
Modern girls and boys, the very ones for whom the game is a vital necessity and a condition for development, actually "unlearn" to play constructively. This worries psychologists and educators around the world. What would you say if the birds stopped singing, the hares jump, and the butterflies fly? The very quality, the very essence of the children's game has changed: it has become gloomy, aggressive, individualistic. The centuries-old chain of transmission of the game tradition from one children's generation to another was interrupted. And this led to a crisis in the game culture. In the early 70s, newspapers were full of headlines: “Where do children's games go?”, “Who will help the toy?” etc. But, according to the famous teacher V.M. Grigoriev, a collector, organizer and “restorer” of the national game, began to play no less, but worse: “... the quality of games is rapidly declining. More and more primitive game forms - pranks, leprosy, fun, which are already on the last line of the game and increasingly turning into mischief and even hooliganism: fun with fire, explosions, cruel treatment of animals, senseless destruction, etc. The salvation and revival of traditional folk games, the genetic foundation of the game culture of each nation, is necessary. ”
In response to the question "What do you like to play?" most of the children (from 4 to 6 years old) called outdoor games - sticks and hide and seek, but only a few could formulate the rules of the game, its semantic core, 5% could not remember a single game, 4% called computer games, a quarter of the children called toys (cars, transformers, Barbie dolls) that they simply manipulated. Its regularity and correlation with the image of an ideal adult leaves the game.
Unfortunately, group games - the "air" of children's life of older generations - have completely disappeared. Where are the Cossack robbers, boyars, blind men, bast shoes and other children's joys? All of them, along with counters, cries, songs and other forms of children's folklore - the greatest wealth of our culture - have been preserved in the children's subculture for centuries, passed from mouth to mouth.
Many psychologists have tried to answer the main question: why is a child playing? Numerous scientific concepts of the game appeared, including psychological ones. However, the essence, the "secret" of the game were not disclosed.
A modern child lives in a world that at first glance is much brighter and more diverse than its peer two hundred, one hundred and even thirty years ago. Let's take a look: the bright covers of books, magazines and textbooks at school, colored billboards on the street, and houses - felt-tip pens and pencils, colorful clothes and, of course, a variety of toys, sometimes the most unimaginable colors and shapes. I'm not talking about the TV screen, the computer monitor - with their riot of colors, unnatural angles and graphics. We all and our children live in a world filled to the brim with diverse and ... short-lived items: disposable tableware, underwear, clothes, etc. But toys are bought, as one father of five (!) Children said, with suitcases and a month later with suitcases thrown away. Colors, shapes change, pictures, objects, faces flash. And the psyche of the child can not cope - the perception of color and sound, smell and touch, the idea of \u200b\u200bgood and bad, good and evil are deformed.
Sensory aggression of the environment surrounding the child violates the stability and sustainability of the world, i.e. It deprives a small person of confidence that the world is durable, reliable, and therefore safe. The predictability of the world, which is necessary for a child to adequately socialize, to control his own behavior, is called into question.
The appearance of a new toy sometimes not only reflects the existing level of technical equipment, but also to some extent can contribute to the birth of new technology. So, at the end of the 19th century, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe world was expressed in the wide distribution of optical toys (binoculars, telescopes, microscopes, etc.), which is believed to have prepared the invention of cinema in a certain way.
The serial toy, which most often, unfortunately, a modern child deals with, is essentially an anti-toy: it contains the idea of \u200b\u200bpossessing, rather than joyfully understanding the world; it forms a tendency to supplant the developing game and genuine creativity. Massive production profane individual emotional relationships with the toy as a "different Self." The visual appeal of a toy product becomes more important than a gaming application, hence new forms, materials that are not characteristic of a traditional toy. Today, a children's toy as part of modern mass culture contributes to the construction of a very gloomy and bleak picture of the world by a child, as evidenced by children's drawings.
A serial toy in its spirit resists a creative (developing) toy, one that contributes to the development of the creative potential of the child and his personal and moral-spiritual growth, which does not require an unambiguous way of handling it, but, on the contrary, provokes a variety of behavioral strategies. These are all so-called archetypal toys — constructive, indefinite, multifunctional: a ball, hoop, stick, etc. In essence, a creative toy has its roots in a folk toy.
As compensation for “under-play” in their own childhood, adults have a way of evaluating any thing - regardless of its use - as fun, authenticity, a toy.
Adults and the game. The game before our eyes is not just a temporary entertainment, but a way of life for millions of adults. One scientist was asked: “What will you do if the end of the world begins?”. He replied: "Play." Yes, yes, don’t cry, don’t save, don’t save, don’t pray, but play ?! This indicates the great importance of the game in the life of a modern person. Maybe too big when it comes to an adult.
Modern adults enthusiastically play children's games. A few years ago, the American film "The Big One" was shown about the fantastic story of a boy who turned into an adult who made a dizzying career in the production of ... toys, since no one knew the children's consumer market better than he did. Sometimes it seems to me that this story is not so fantastic, and transformed adults irresponsibly do their pranks in different areas of life, as if exchanging places with children.
The toy is useful and harmful. Unfortunately, a well-bought toy is one that adults like. But often it is least suitable for children. In many of today's toys, children’s only that they are small. What should be a toy for a child? A source of joy, a motive for the game. It should create conditions for development, leaving the opportunity for independent creativity. In contrast, modern toys, most often made according to Western models, do not leave room for “plot imagination”. A child surrounded by plastic Barbies, cyborgs, transformers, is a person charged with the energies of Western society. If, from childhood, a child is surrounded by representatives of evil spirits, then the ability to faith, compassion, sympathy, mercy will be atrophied in him, perhaps forever. As an adult, he will be programmed to serve those whose plastic similarities he gave the first moments of the game in his life, with whose help knowledge of the world took place.
A toy is able to create monsters in the soul of a small person. Unfortunately, this is increasingly encountered not only by psychologists, but also by children's psychiatrists and doctors. Their work is becoming more and more. Here is one example.
The grandmother of the six-year-old granddaughter came to the psychologist's appointment: the girl does not sleep well, jumps up at night, often cries, is afraid to enter a dark room. It turned out that a super-modern mother bought a black daughter with horns and a tail, quite, as it is now fashionable to say, a “cool” monster. At first, the girl was delighted, played with him. But then all these neurotic manifestations began, and the girl herself complained to her grandmother that “the devil was looking at her,” and became more and more uneasy. The wise grandmother along with her granddaughter took a toy and, on a walk in the park, built a kind of bonfire, burned a monster, and buried the rest in a subtree. The girl calmed down, neurotic manifestations disappeared. However, the story did not end, because the mother, learning about the incident, accused her grandmother of obscurantism and removed her daughter from raising her. No arguments had any effect on my mother, there was a family conflict, my grandmother in tears turned to a psychologist for help. How to clearly explain to an unbelieving modern mother what spiritual danger (temptation) she exposes her only child?
A useful toy sets itself a noble educational task - to teach goodness and beauty, wisdom and compassion.
Our children almost do not play with domestic toys. Psychologists chorus say that there is a growing generation brought up on toys that have nothing to do with Russian reality. Foreign toys occupy the best shelves in stores. They introduce the child to the culture of another nation, “reprogram” the Russian soul in their own way. At the beginning of the 20th century, the popular plot of the toy was the image of the Russian warrior-winner. Today, it’s hard to find toys on store shelves that stimulate the development of military-patriotic consciousness. Perhaps it is worth recalling the history of the Russian warrior, Prince Svyatoslav, who already in two years did not let go of a wooden toy sword from his hands. Maybe that’s why some psychologists and educators sponsored by the American “centers for children's education” demand to ban the sale of any “militaristic” toys in Russia, claiming that these toys stimulate violence and aggression ...
Now there are a large number of soft toys on sale that came off the TV screens and were “promoted” by children's television series: Pokemon, monsters, etc. These characters, invented by ingenious English, Japanese, and American psychologists, bring huge profits to the developers.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, robot transformers, Batman, Spider-Man - these toys contribute to the accumulation of aggressive fantasies of a child, often realized in life in relation to weaker animals or small children. A seven-year-old boy - a lover of such toys - caught chickens and tortured them in front of four or five year old kids, despite their tears and requests. Prior to that, he watched cartridges with children's horror films many times, and he had a spider as his favorite toy.
There is a well-known psychological technique - “non-existent animal”: an adult or a child is offered to draw an animal that is not in the world, give it a name (name) and tell where it lives, what it likes to do, what it eats, etc. According to the nature of the drawing and story, the specialist can determine the level of a person’s abilities, the nature of relations with the outside world, traits such as openness or anxiety, responsiveness or aggressiveness, etc. So here. Pokemonov was apparently invented by a person familiar with this technique, but he was extremely aggressive and anxious. Judge for yourself. Translated "poke-mon" - pocket monster. Such a creature cannot have exact analogues in living nature; it does not resemble any of the known living creatures. For example, an ordinary bunny is not a Pokemon, but a bright yellow bunny that can be shocked like an electric ramp is already called a Pikachu Pokemon. Maximum absurdity, unnaturalness, insidiousness and aggressiveness - that is what is inherent in all Pokemon.
The show in Japan a few years ago, the cartoon about Pokemon caused more than 600 children a variety of mental and somatic disorders, many were hospitalized with symptoms of epileptic seizures (epileptic disease). The cartoon was removed from the show, it was remade and ... sold to Russia. Our children fell in love with Pokemon and wear them on clothes, eat in the form of sweets, read about them in books and, most importantly, require their parents to buy such toys. And they are glad, without thinking about the consequences of their child entering into communication with the “sharply negative information field”, as scientists say.
The show of the Pokemon animated series on Channel One was discontinued, but consumption of products based on it continues. Almost half of the boys and girls all over the world are crazy about Pokémon, and world sales of “Pokémon” goods - playing cards, video games, coloring books, sweets, etc. - are estimated at 6 billion dollars. Cases of theft of these “jewelry” from briefcases and fights because of them are not uncommon, therefore, a number of Moscow schools have introduced a “ban on Pokemon”.
TO monster categories all kinds of toys-transformers can be attributed: human-machine, human-monster, human-robot. What feelings do these toys bring up in the baby? So through an ugly toy, the child’s need for magic and fairy tale is cynically exploited! Adults seemed to forget that a toy, as we said at the beginning, is not just fun. It lays in the child’s soul the initial concepts of good and evil. And it’s dangerous if this happens in a game with a negative toy hero, and this danger is directly proportional to the character’s aggressiveness.
What is bad about monsters - is it just toys?
Any action lost by a child is capable of reproducing itself in reality. If a child in the game is able to behave humanely, mercifully, caringly, then he has a certain model of how to do this. And vice versa, if a child in a game is forced to be aggressive, rude, cruel, it will certainly reproduce itself someday in a given situation. The toy programs the behavior of the child. And it is important to understand how the toy works and what kind of program it carries in itself. Since there is good and evil, ideal and anti-ideal, a toy, as we could see, can be an anti-toy.
You don’t give a boy or a girl a radioactive apple, a loaded gun or a drug. Monster toys are equivalent to them. A demonic toy is a translator of spiritual destruction: obsession (mental illness), neurosis, suicidal tendency (suicide), etc.
In a traditional folk toy, the ingenuous love of an adult for a child, recognition of his right to a special play space are embedded. A modern industrial toy often forms and fixes in a person (and above all in a child) such personal qualities as a relaxed will, indifference of feelings, lack of mind, consumerism.
At the toy store. We, adults, invent and then acquire toys for children based on our needs, our own - sometimes unaware - addictions.
Here is the main children's store in the country - Detsky Mir. Toys - the sea. It turns out that toys are a very profitable business, and the “gaming industry” is expanding every year: electronic and computer are added to the soft and mechanical. And adults are passionate about creating them seriously, as if making them for themselves. With a sinking heart, recently, like many years ago, I went through the halls of the Children's World for toys.
Remembering that a toy is a cultural tool with which a child comprehends a huge and complex world, joins the latest achievements of mankind and the traditions of his own people, I anticipated the pleasure of shopping in advance - how much people must have invented in recent years! At the same time, it is also known that every toy, even the most unpretentious, symbolizes one or another side of human relations, in it there is almost always a certain educational meaning. With this measure, I went to the departments.
Here is one of my favorites - the board games department: good old cubes with fairy tales, mosaics, a building constructor for kids, and all this at prices affordable to families, even with very modest incomes. These toys have proven their amusement and their educational value to many generations of children, developing intelligence, quick wit, accustoming to patience, training fine motor skills of the hand. And here is the spirit of the times - desktop-printed games: “Pirates”, “Lord of the Universe”, “Conqueror”, etc., oriented towards the manifestation of individualism, pride and vanity against the backdrop of false romance with heroes from the fantasy world - aliens, fossil monsters, monsters "12 chairs" and other games about business, money, the market, real estate, banks, etc., in which a passion for profit is encouraged, fraud and fraud are cultivated. There is also the game “Beauty Contest” - a manual for girls on how to prepare for participation in such a competition, i.e. how to better show off your body, about clothes, cosmetics, the fight against female contenders. Are mothers buying these games? According to sellers, very willingly.
The advantage of board games is that they provide for joint activities, which means that they give the child the opportunity for positive communication with peers. I think this does not apply to the board games I saw. Well, I'll go to the dolls.
It turns out that dolls can be not only for girls, but also for boys. Instead of miniature soldiers, there is a large Batman (a human-bat from an American cartoon) in various guises, sometimes paired with his bestial enemy, apparently for organizing and carrying out child fights-fights. In the open window are American professional supermen (climber, pilot and ... killer with a variety of weapons - from a knife and a gun to a laser). Recently, in one of the TV shows, a young dad spoke, who was going to orient his son to the highly paid profession of killer (?). This toy is probably a visual aid for people like him. The toy sells well, although it is quite expensive.
What about a soft toy? The most important thing is to give the baby tenderness. This feature of her is used by psychotherapists and pediatricians. As practice shows, a fluffy bear, a cute elephant or a shaggy dog \u200b\u200bcan “cure” a child of fears and even nocturnal enuresis. Some very deep-seated needs of a small creature, not only human, are embodied in a soft toy. American psychology researchers, Harlow’s wife, while researching cubs of monkeys, found the following: if the monkey was given the opportunity to choose between two “surrogate mothers”, one of whom was wire, but with a bottle of milk, and the other from faux fur, but without a bottle, then he was frightened and a hungry cub chooses ... a second, soft and comfortable, giving him a much-needed sense of security. It is not surprising that our little children love furry animals so much.
And what is sold in the "Children's World" in the department of soft toys? Before me are creatures of unknown species and breeds, of an unimaginably flashy color, none of them I want to pick up, stroke. True, there are still amazing German Shepherds with their naturalism - better than living, but for some reason they also do not want to stroke them. And the prices "bite". Here in the center of the hall on a palm tree sits a huge black fierce-looking monkey - if it gets into the child’s bedroom, then night fears and neurosis are guaranteed to him!
And finally, a whole stand of black Mephistopheles (!) With the inscription "Devil" (by the way, one of the cheapest toys). What considerations did adults come from when designing, manufacturing and selling this toy? And do they have their own children? Some mother, standing at a stand in bewilderment, asked: "Do you have any angels?" “No, we don’t trade angels,” the saleswoman snapped.
The conclusion suggests itself: in the central children's store, overwhelmingly, game products are presented that do not meet the elementary psychological and pedagogical requirements of moral formation, intellectual development, and spiritual health of the child.
Of course, they may object to me: were there really no good toys and games in the entire store? And the Lego designers? And electronic toys - every boy’s dream?
Yes, the Lego designer is assigned a large department. It is advertised on television: these are bright, colorful, environmentally friendly toys, as they say, which involve the construction of a variety of plot-paintings. But which ones? “Western”, “Search for the treasures of the pharaoh”, “World disasters”, “Space aliens”, “Spider-man”, “Ghosts”, “Harry Potter”, “Pokemon”, “Star wars” - these are almost the main topics .
Many parents do not share my cautious attitude to Lego. “The designer develops thinking, trains fine motor skills of the hand,” the young dad persistently assured me. “My daughter learned to distinguish colors thanks to Lego,” my mother urged. It's like that! And yet ... These bright plastic toys ultimately orient the child to foreign cultures: alien landscapes, unfamiliar, non-native characters, foreign attributes. With an abundance of domestic game examples and samples, it would be very good to learn about the American Indians or the treasures of the Egyptian pharaohs. But children sometimes do not see anything that reveals the beauty of their native land, teaches to honor the good heroes of Russian fairy tales ...
Why is Barbie doll an anti-toy?
An almost fifty-year-old male journalist (not some young reformer!) Wrote an outraged protest article in the central newspaper - a response to the public and the Ministry of Education's condemnation of Barbie dolls as a corrupting and unaesthetic toy. Exciting public opinion and preparing it for the adoption of “new values” and a “healthy lifestyle”, he asks: “And what, in fact, is bad about sexuality? Sexuality arises precisely in childhood ... You can not be afraid of Barbie. Sooner or later, the child will learn about the nature of man, and if this happens at home, playing a game of Barbie when parents are nearby, this is only good. ”
Let me, the child psychologist, mom and grandmother, disagree. First, of course, there is nothing wrong with healthy sexuality, especially if it is based on love. Secondly, gender in the mind of the child has primarily social and psychological characteristics. Thirdly, the formation of “healthy sexuality” in children under 16 years of age is called molestation, including intellectual abuse, it is criminal and punishable by law. Parents reap the fruits of a liberal approach to sex education very early.
Modern Barbie, having different names, are very similar to each other. By order of Barbie's face, it can look like the face of the girl herself, thus the toy acquires the power of a second "I". Why is this? Playing in Barbie, the child comes as if “to everything ready” (everything is too predetermined) —this is a quasi-toy by the definition of the psychologist A.N. Leontiev. The child finds himself in the bonds of stereotypes and the imposition of a certain lifestyle and worldview. It is known that the proportions of Barbie cause persistent discontent in girls with their figure - an inferiority complex that leads to neurosis.
Four years is the age when a child masters his body in a harmonious movement. Toys should provide an opportunity for dynamics, dance (music boxes, balls, balls, ribbons on sticks, etc.). The instinct of motherhood is strong in girls of this age; it finds its embodiment in the game with a doll. Therefore, at this age it is better not to buy Barbie. After all, Barbie is a pseudo-ideal model of a woman, a sex symbol of a consumer society, a monstrous spiritual substitution of the archetype of Mother. She can be dressed, undressed, and acquired new things for her. A way of life is transmitted through Barbie - endless outfits, entertainment, change of partners. In relation to this doll, the girl will feel more like a maid, a servant, at best a girlfriend, and not her mother, nanny. This is not a small defenseless creature who wants to nurse, feed, put to bed, treat, i.e. to feel at least one step higher, growing up. A doll at this age should focus the child’s attention not on “beauty,” but primarily on feelings of care.
Barbie’s “Beauty” is invented and imposed on children by adults, in the child’s understanding of the idea of \u200b\u200bbeauty in general often does not coincide with the aesthetic views of adults.
To summarize some of the results.
The vast majority of modern games and toys are anti-toys; they orient children not toward positive cultural values \u200b\u200band spiritual patterns, but instill a desire for evil, violence, hatred, licentiousness, and money-grubbing.
The general conclusions of the review of modern games and toys indicate the obvious transformations of the worldview of our children. Significant shifts appeared in it, firstly, the commercialization of children's consciousness, which is expressed in an exaggerated attitude to money, the desire in the future to do only business, and gain financial independence at any cost. Secondly, Westernization as an orientation towards Western values, which is behind a cult of power, expansion, aggression in combination with the romanticization of criminal life, etc. Thirdly, the tendency towards thanatization — the motives for death and death of all life on earth — is growing in the children's picture of the world. destruction of nature, environmental disaster, etc. It was this trend that in many respects provoked the growth of children's suicides - not without the help of the media, as well as its specific forms such as toys: transformers, killer dolls, board games such as “The death of civilization”, “War of the worlds” and the like.
Another characteristic feature of our time is the tendency toward the sexualization of childhood consciousness (the active formation of a cynical attitude to the intimate side of adult life, premature preoccupation with sex), one of the reasons for which are dolls with genital organs.
An anti-toy is a specific media that promotes anti-value. It poses a danger to the life and health of children; it can cause harm to normal physical, mental and moral-spiritual development.
An anti-toy is not just a bad toy, i.e. poorly made, roughly painted, with sharp edges or small details. Often anti-toys are externally flawlessly made from environmentally friendly materials branded products of foreign or domestic production. But what mental processes and personality-semantic relations are manifested in the interaction of the child with the anti-toy?
Russian children have archetypal models of perception of reality inherited from their ancestors. The modern appearance of a human doll, the landscapes of board games, the color forms of the designer, etc., as a rule, do not correspond to these models, and sometimes directly contradict them. Studying with toys of foreign origin, the kid, as it were, gets his first experience of cultural colonization, having faced the need to reject, alienate his own and submit to a foreign toy pantheon. So, in the life of a child, according to scientists, the first sociocultural trauma occurs, due to which a complex of cultural, national inferiority is then formed. Foreign toys can help break the connection between generations, even in infancy, designing a fault line between “fathers” and “children”.
Modern anti-toys, most often made according to Western standards, do not leave room for “plot imagination”. A child surrounded by plastic Barbies, cyborgs, transformers, is a person charged with the energies of Western society.
A toy with genitals, supposedly for adequate sex-role socialization of a child, can cause premature sexual interest, and in combination with the efforts of the media and, most importantly, adult “suggestions”, it promotes the sexualization of children's consciousness and is in fact an intellectual abuse.
At the International Exhibition in New York, a set of alien toys was presented. The advertising booklet says: “New toys allow thrills-loving kids to tear open the belly of a green ambassador of extraterrestrial civilizations with toy scissors and take out his insides: spleen, stomach, liver, etc.”. What is not a guide for Jack the Ripper ?! And this is filled with children's consciousness!
A toy, as we could see, seriously affects the children's psyche and the development of the personality of the baby. After all, for him she is alive and real. Carried away by playing with a toy, a child most often identifies himself with it, its “habits”, appearance, its hidden essence. And it’s dangerous if this happens in a game with a negative toy hero, this danger is directly proportional to the character’s negativity.
Smart and kind toy
But it is not all that bad. We have good and “smart”, or rather, wise toys. Most of them are not sold in ordinary children's stores. They are made manually at home or in small factories that exist on the verge of profitability - a small circulation, a semi-manual manufacturing method. But you can avoid factory insanity by a common pattern.
In stores, you can find characters all of us since childhood, our favorite television program, “Good night, kids!”: Filia, Stepashka, Piggy and Karkusha. What do they teach toddlers during their evening meetings with them? Goodness, justice. They teach not to deceive and not to betray much more. And all this is told in a form understandable to children. These rare positive characters now radiate kindness and love for each of the viewers, and they also respond with love. Therefore, the presence in the nursery of at least one of the favorite characters will bring another piece of warmth and tenderness and will recall those topics that were touched upon by them. Of course, the "creative potential" of these dolls is small, but it significantly exceeds the negative charge of anti-toys with which modern stores are saturated.
For older children, you can now buy kits for the construction of ships, planes, boats. Beautiful girls sell beautiful sets for embroidering and sewing dresses to their favorite dolls, and for boys - carpentry, locksmith tools. They teach children independence, industriousness, caring for others. For example, a teenager may be (I hope!) Very pleased to make some furniture for his sister’s doll with his own hands. And any handmade toy is the best for a child and the most expensive gift for his (her) friend or girlfriend.
And there are toys that you do not need to buy. It is enough to walk around the park and collect acorns, sticks, cones, pebbles, check your mother’s stocks of pieces of cloth and ribbons, collect all the trinkets and make a toy out of all this improvised material. There is a huge field for imagination.
In the scientific literature there are very few works about toys. And those that affect the pedagogical and psychological aspects of toys, and even less. But, as we already could see, the market has been full of “harmful”, dangerous, ugly toys lately. A lot of vulgar, useless, boring and immoral toys appeared on it. Their effect on children is clearly negative. Parents are increasingly asking themselves: what, after all, is to buy a child? Why do children themselves prefer toys that we think are terrible?
Psychologists and educators are once again starting to revise modern toys, "clean up" the contaminated "toy market."
Watching a children's game in order to reveal the attitude of children to toys, you can simultaneously get acquainted with a children's assessment of a particular toy. It would be especially important to obtain data to elucidate such a psychologically difficult question about the real impact of the toy: according to the views of children in comparison with the opinions of adults. This may be the key to the science-based toy selection program. There is no doubt that this program is needed. After all, a child spends most of his life in the game.
Tidying up the children's room is not an easy task! Especially if the child is still small and does not like to help mom in cleaning matters. How and where to put toys so that they are always in place? How to teach your baby to clean up the room on their own? We examined a number of ideas that will help resolve these issues!
Many kids love to hide their toys under the bed, as a result, they get a whole dump of cars, robots, cats and other items. Do not blame your child for this, or somehow oppose it, you can make storage under the bed convenient and exciting. For this you need drawers on wheels. They come complete with many cots or are sold separately in furniture stores.
Perhaps these are the most affordable and easy-to-use storage systems. You can put the most ordinary toys in textile baskets, from a small designer to dimensional soft toys. It’s convenient for the child to do this himself without the help of his mother, and if desired, he can move the baskets around the room.
This option is great for those who have several children of different ages. At the lower level, it is convenient to arrange the toys of the youngest child, and at the highest - the older. So parents will protect themselves and their children, because many toys for seniors are not at all suitable for the games of the smallest.
If the room does not have much space, then you can organize the storage of toys directly on the front door. To do this, you can use a soft textile or polyethylene organizer with pockets. Or hook small bags or baskets onto the hooks, and put toys there.
Retractable plastic containers can often be found in hardware stores. They conveniently store tools, all kinds of things, including children's toys. The kid can easily put toys in them, the main thing is that the containers do not have an unpleasant smell of plastic, if there is one, then you can’t buy such containers.
Flexible and bright toy storage baskets are not difficult to find in specialized children's stores. In such organizers, children will be happy to put their toys.
It is convenient when the nursery has mobile storage systems that are convenient to move around the room. This saves time and makes cleaning more enjoyable and productive. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to wooden boxes equipped with castors.
Any mother can make textile pockets, there is no great difficulty in this, and for this you do not need to be a seamstress or designer. But the baby will always be pleased to put their favorite toys in the "houses", which my mother made with her own hands.
Metal baskets are a classic option that will be convenient for both baby and mother. They are very light and transparent, it is not difficult to pick them up and you can always see what lies in such a basket.
Magnetic holders come in handy in a child’s boy, there are always dozens of cars and robots that are in a mess. They can be assembled quickly in one place with the help of small magnetic assistants.
Storage of children's toys is an eternal and inexhaustible topic. Therefore, we found more
