“Dumb” toys lead to smart kids
November 24, 2007
Lead paint isn’t the only thing about a toy that could impair your child’s intellectual development. Just in time for Christmas toy-buying comes this advice: “Simple Retro Toys May Be Better For Children Than Fancy Electronic Toys.”
Really, that makes sense to me. I wouldn’t let a child anywhere near a computer until about the age of 7 or so. Before then, let them play with blocks, scribble on paper with crayons, tie things up with string, bounce a ball, and squish clay around.
The article offers advice from the co-authors of a book called Einstein Never Used Flashcards: How Our Children Really Learn—and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less.
Categories: Education
Simple toys can’t fill the role of the electronic babysitter that’s necessary.
Culturally, mom and dad both work in order to keep afloat, so they get their kids started on the strict regimen of having others raise them—on the internet, through electronic games, the TV and other complex machines.
I’m sure parents that take a clear interest in their children’s activities do more good than parents that place their children in front of the TV or game or computer. However, don’t we get conflicting advice constantly—not to be overprotective, not to be helicoptering, not to be controlling, etc.
The title, “Einstein Never used…” is interesting in itself when you think about it. An appeal to cultural myth of Einstein to help sell the book, and an implication that following this specific advice will produce a generation of next ones. Really an appeal against the formulaic approach used by millions by a formulaic prescription designed for millions.
I am hoping to not have cable by the time I have kid. I want them to be explorers and be geeks till they are teens.
Sadly, that’s right on target. Lots of toys and activities entail some risk and today’s parents are exceedingly risk-averse. Many of my childhood exploits resulted in trips to the emergency room. Nowadays that could result in the parents being charged with “neglect”. Fortunately I usually had my dog with me, and he really was smart enough to go for help if needed.
No different than showing a guy who uses a certain cologne with beautiful women hanging all over him – use our product, and this outcome will occur.
I have not read the book, but the central theme does make sense to me. Dumb toys entail nondirected observation and problem-solving.
As I suspected. Your name isn’t George. It’s Timmy.
Webs—we raised our sons—gasp—without cable!!
We still don’t have it, although we can get a couple good network channels and a couple fuzzy ones on the tv.
And at times, yes, they felt deprived, not knowing the shows their friends were talking about.
On the other hand, two newspapers delivered to the door, manymanymany magazine subscriptions, and a weekly trip to the public library helped to keep their knowledge of the world current.
The two younger sons are catching up being busy renting dvds of Seasons of television shows from their younger years.
So much easier for me as a mom than monitoring would have been back then.
I think the key may not be one or the other, but a good balance between the two. When I signed my six year old up for Spanish, the teacher said it didn’t matter if any of the kids actually learned words; what was more important was that they learned to make the sounds. Later, she said, even if they didn’t take Spanish again until High School, it would come easier to them. Given our technology and it’s pace, an educational computer game in moderation, for instance, may not be a bad idea.
Maybe. MarkH on denialism also hates those advertisements, but I don’t.
I think that using perfumes and colognes does show a sort of interest in hygiene and a basic flattering aspect to the opposite sex (i.e. sprucing up before the date is flattering to the other party – you don’t take them for granted). My favorites are the Bruce Campbell Old Spice commercials; they’re so over the top that they’re instant classics. You can youtube them if interested.
But the over the top approach isn’t really the cultural problem (axe and the cougars), it’s the more subtle ones that lead you to a lifetime of embedded cosmetics and personal hygiene products. They tell you that to show up for work sweaty (because you rode a bike to work) is unacceptable in a range of high powered jobs, so no alternatives but to show up in an Infinity Q35. How many people take a shower twice a day? Rub deodorants, colognes, lipsticks, etc because it’s the cultural standard. All those little things impact the way we use energy, the way business works and the way we approach willingness to change the world.
Ever so much. The mania for personal “hygene” has made us awfully dependent on things we have to buy in order to fit in. Today the woman who refuses to wear high heels is making some kind of statement, and the man who bikes to work is (I know!) seen as a bit odd.
1. Though we’ve had a computer available for our daughter (the advantages of working for an IT group and being able to bring home cheap, outdated notebooks) for a number of years, it’s simply another toy for her. She plays with it sometimes, she doesn’t other times. She prefers to play with the kids up the street, or watch TV, or draw, or write, or read, or build her fort under the deck.
And sometimes she plays on it, and that’s cool, too.
I think the secret is that Margie and I aren’t stuck on one form of outlet. We don’t veg in front of the TV every night, or play on the computer morning, noon, and night. Remarkably enough, she models a lot off of what we do, and in what we show an interest in for ourselves, and for her.
2. Einstein didn’t use flash cards? Really? Was there any rote memorization in his past? That was the standard pedagogy until, oh, 1968 or so.
There’s room for memorization and rote learning—and for fostering creativity, and understanding of principles, and stuff like that. And I wouldn’t assume an exceptional person like Einstein’s educational background has anything more to do with his genius than Shakespeare’s, or Feynmann’s, or da Vinci’s.