Toys and things

What are toys? A toy is an object to play with. By this definition, the concept of toy seems broad. If you look around your house with an open mind, you will find in your surroundings filled with toys. Right from a showpiece to the broom, right from a drawer to a lock, right from a button to a cup, right from a rock to a leaf, everything can be a toy.

We have made such a variety of toys for our children, to stimulate their senses, to educate them to help them practise their motor skills, to give them the sensory joy of the soft toy, to soothe them and so on; and all that in a safe way. We buy a variety of toys for them with such love. Buying toys and playing with them is also therapeutic for our inner child on many levels.

But here’s a hard truth. Our baby doesn’t really NEED any of the toys that we buy for them. They are perfectly capable of accessing sensory stimulation and joys, motor training of all kinds, self-soothing and educating themselves using the naturally occurring things in their surroundings. Their unlimited, unhindered imagination is a superpower which can make a battery cell into a car or the sofa into a road for the car. They can polish their motor skills playing with a cooker or a tiffin box. They can work on their senses using different textures around the house including how the skin of all the family members feels or the textures of their clothes or different materials.

If we really look at it with humour, many of us buy toys for ourselves. Let’s give our children the choice to decide what they want to play with- the limited concept or the broad concept of toys.

In today’s day and age, buying a few toys seems reasonable. But let’s face it, operating from material hedonism and the entitlement of getting what they desire at the drop of a hat is harmful for our children in the long run.

Let’s give our child more safety, love, warmth and connection than buying unlimited toys for them.

Activity:

Make sure you don’t insist that your child plays only with the TOYS you have got for them.

Teach your child to play with the things around the house in a safe way.

Make sure you say no to using things that may be dangerous (safety first).

Make sure you also give joy to your inner child by buying a toy for your baby once in a while.