There are so many annoying toy lists out there – such as Yahoo’s Hot Holiday Toys for 2011 offering expensive and unnecessary gems like Sesame Street’s Let’s Rock Elmo ($60.00 for the Elmo doll, plus about 15 – 20 bucks each for his keyboard, drums and microphone! And I am guessing batteries are not included. ) Your toddler/preschooler will find many more things to do with a cozy blanket than with this single-purpose Elmo toy which they will soon grow bored of and will most assuredly grow out of. And then there is Common Sense Media’s 70+ Gift Ideas For Every Kid on Your List. This list is chock-full of electronic entertainment designed to keep our kids plugged-in. Apps, DVDs, websites to join – even the games they recommend are video games.  There are no board games to help families play together without a screen involved. What happens when the power goes out ?! (And where I live, that’s been happening a lot lately.) Thankfully, Common Sense Media does recommend some actual books for children.

In the midst of all the schlock being marketed to families and kids this holiday season, three cheers and a big thank you to the Strong National Museum of Play for recognizing the blanket as a toy worthy of honor. As they so aptly describe:

“In imaginative play and make-believe, kids have discovered the many playful uses for the blanket. It fills in for a king’s robe, a bride’s veil, a superhero’s cape, a Roman soldier’s cloak, a princess’s flowing gown, and a wizard’s flying carpet. Thrown over a table, it forms a tent; draped around two chairs, it becomes a fort; on top of the carpet, it serves as a safe island surrounded by sea monsters. In puppet shows, the blanket substitutes for theater curtains; for a magician, the blanket conceals the secrets of the show. And in tug-of-war, the blanket gets top billing. It is also suitable for tossing toys in the air or for parachuting them back to earth.” (photo credit to the National Toy Hall of Fame website, also! )

As a child I used a blanket for just about all of those ideas listed above. I even remember using a blanket for impromptu winter picnics on the kitchen floor. What do you remember I wonder? Did you have imaginative adventures with your blanket? How do your children play with blankets today?

The blanket also joins the stick, inducted in 2008, and the cardboard box, inducted in 2005. Nice!

For more info on this season’s most terrible toys, check out Campaign for a Commerical-Free Childhood’s TOADY Awards.

“Each year, the Toy Industry Association gathers to present its TOTY (Toy Of The Year) Awards.  In honor of the industry that has led the way in commercializing childhood, CCFC will present its TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children) Award for the worst toy of the year.  From thousands of toys that promote violence and/or precocious sexuality to children and push branded entertainment at the expense of children’s play, CCFC has selected five exceptional finalists. “

Voting for the TOADY award is open until November 28th!

And if you are looking for toy buying advice, you may want to check out TRUCE’s Toys, Play & Young Children Action Guide or TRUCE’s Infant – Toddler Play, Toys and Media Action Guide.

For a related posts see:

A Real Toy Story

Good and Bad Toy Ideas

Doing More With Less This Holiday Season

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My husband was initially supportive of the idea, saying, “If it’s just robots blowing up other robots, not people, how bad could it be?” I was amazed, since I’d been telling him about media influences on children for many years. How could I be facing this dilemma before the boys had even reached their 4th birthday? How could these commercials for Transformers be bringing such an unwanted dilemma into our household? My husband decided to call some family friends – all of them parents who had seen the movie – for feedback. The replies were mixed, but mostly negative. So one night he and I previewed the movie while the little boys slept. Within minutes he was convinced: this was no movie for young children. The boys took the news pretty well, although one of them told us pointedly that his (imaginary) brother Kevin watches Transformers and his mom “is okay with that.” (My young sons had imaginary brothers, “Jake and Kevin”, who got to do all the adventurous things they were to young to do.)

Soon after this happened, we cut the cable and never looked back. That was four years ago. Cutting the cable was a strategy that worked for our family. It definitely help shift the power back into our parental hands. It is now much easier to control what the boys view through borrowing DVDs from Netflix, and the commercials the boys see are much, much fewer.

Above all, this cut down on the nagging – the incessant begging for things we didn’t approve of. Marketers have actually researched effective nagging as a way to increase their sales. (See Susan Linn’s Consuming Kids for more information about the 1998 marketing study called The Nag Factor.) Research has shown that marketing to children is a factor in nagging – as well as materialism, violence, eating disorders, childhood obesity, precocious sexuality, and more.

Cutting the cable may seem extreme to you and your family, but there are many other strategies that can help mitigate the issues surrounding excessive screen-time and marketing to children. In talking with other parents about these issues, here are some strategies that have worked:

• Watch TV with your child; talk about the ads, stereotypes, your reactions, etc.
• Limit TV time (such as no TV on school nights)
• Only adults are allowed to turn on the TV or use the remote
• Watch only PBS or pre-screened DVDs
• Keep TVs out of the children’s bedrooms
• Replace TV with reading
• Go outside
• Get messy!
• Mute the commercials (teach the children how)
• Talk about your values with your children and your extended family
• Keep yourself informed and share information with others

If you are a frequent reader of this blog, you know that next Monday, April 18th begins national Screen-Free Week. Are you participating? Are your children? Does it seem impossible? Maybe turning off screen entertainment for a week seems too daunting at this point. If so, consider using Screen-Free week as a chance to experiment with some of the ideas above.  You might use the event as a spring-board for conversations about media influences on children with your family, extended family, and friends. Does that seem do-able?

For more information about marketing to children, including easy-to-download fact sheets, check out the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.

Click here for more information and blog posts on Screen-Free Week.

Read a related blog post: Two Good Reasons to Cut the Cable.

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Their first recommendation is the Leapster Explorer from Leapfrog priced at $70.00. This toy “has a touch screen and a stylus, so kids can turn eBook pages with the flick of a finger and write on the screen. Parents see what their child learns on a personalized Web page.” Here’s what I’m thinking: use the money instead to buy some great kids’ books to read with your child.  You’ll see what your child learns by watching how he or she interacts with the book; the questions he or she asks;  and the conversations you have about the storyline,  pictures and words. You’ll learn more about your child this way, as opposed to going online to check a personalized Leapfrog Web page – I promise. Author Eric Carle has some wonderful titles for this age group, but you can ask your librarian for recommendations (or order from The Book Vine Catalog - every book they sell is wonderful!). Along with the books, you could get a little chalk board and some chalk for your child to draw, scribble and write. Perfect!

So instead of  this, try something like this… or even a library card and weekly trips to the library. Good for your pocket book, the environment, your community and your child. Nice!

Another “Best Toy” this year according to Good Housekeeping is Fisher-Price’s Dance Star Mickey, priced at a cool $90. This one is a no-brainer. Instead of spending almost a $100 on a stuffed animal that does everything for you (and comes with a name and fully-developed character), opt for a much less expensive generic fluffy stuffed animal that can be cuddled, snuggled, fed, tossed and loved. A generic, non-battery operated stuffed animal can become anything your child needs or wants it to become. It will be able to say and do ANYTHING your child imagines – at a fraction of the price.

So, instead of this try something like this… (Truth be told, when my sons were born, they each received one of these monkeys -  and they still love their monkeys like nobody’s business.  Please know that I am not getting any money for promoting this toy or brand.  It is just a good example of a generic stuffed animal. And it costs about 10 bucks.)

And here’s one more to think about: the Iron Man 2 Iron Trike for $40. Let me remind you that all of these toys are in the 3 to 5-year-old range. Iron Man 2 is rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence and some adult language.  So here we have one of the thousands of toys for preschoolers that are linked to a PG-13 movie. It is confusing for parents and for kids  -  and it is just plain wrong. Enough said.

If you are thinking about buying something like this…

you might consider something like this…

or this or maybe this…

I realize that Hanukkah is over, so many of you are done with gift buying for the season, but if you are looking for gifts for children, check out TRUCE’s Toy Action Guides. They’ll give you lots of good ideas for infants and toddlers and for young children. And if you want to take action against all the marketing of PG-13 movies to young children – check out this information from Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.

For a related post about gift giving, check out…Doing More with Less this Holiday Season.

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For me, one of the best aspects of the conference was meeting other members of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. It was like meeting old friends – even though we’d never met before. We spoke the same language and felt invigorated talking with each other – wonderful! For my workshops, I presented with Kimberly Mullaney, who is the director of Education Services at WNET/Thirteen (PBS on Long Island). Kimberly and I spoke the same language on a number of issues – especially the importance of co-viewing and how to talk with your children before and after watching a show or movie together. We also agreed that the screen should not be a babysitter and that screen time should not replace healthy creative play times, outdoor play or take place of quality family time.

We did disagree about the use of television in the classroom. Kimberly trains teachers on how to use television clips appropriately, and her tips were good ones.  But for me the value of watching a Clifford episode (or even a clip from it) is just not worth the time away from active learning or the implied endorsement of PBS, their sponsors and preschool screen time – even when the program is shared in a thoughtful way. When I know that preschoolers are already spending 32 hours a week engaged with screens, I don’t want them watching TV in school. Period. (Not to mention the Chuck E Cheese’s promo that came on right before the Clifford show began – yikes! As a parent, I definitely don’t want preschoolers seeing that at school.)

One thing we agreed totally about were the harmful effects commercials can have on children and family life.  We both talked about the recent Toyota Highlander commercial, where the cool kid is plugged into earbuds and doesn’t have to listen to his parents as they drive in their Toyota Highlander. At the stoplight he sees the nerdy kid in the car with the lame parents who are singing as they drive in their (apparently) uncool car. The way I understood the ad,  it is uncool to have parents who sing joyfully and it is way better to have a Toyota Highlander so you can tune out your parents. I would put the YouTube link in here, so you could view the ad,  but the commercial is no longer available on YouTube. Hmmm. Interesting. Last week I called and registered a complaint with Toyota.  I know other members of CCFC did also. If you’ve seen this commercial, and you find it offensive, I encourage you to call. It only takes a couple of minutes and the number is 1-800-331-4331. There is no doubt that raising children today is hard enough without being seriously undermined by big corporations such as Toyota. Calling them to task could make a difference. I have to say, it was great that we agreed this commercial is offensive, and we also agreed that smart phones and texting are taking away precious time which parents used to spend talking with their infants, toddlers and preschoolers. (Why, then is Sesame Street…a company parents trust… making apps for iphones – and furthering the distance between little ones and their caregivers?)

On an up beat…the day ended with a greatly appreciated hour of laughter as we listened to Lenore Skenazy share her journey from New York columnist and average mom to becoming known as “America’s Worst Mom” and her subsequent blog and then a book Free-Range Kids: How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry). Lenore uses her hilarious blend of storytelling and  reality-checking to help paint a picture of today’s world – (and here I paraphrase) a world where we are so worried about our children being kidnapped, that we have, in fact, kidnapped our children. I finally bought myself a copy (early birthday present!) and can not wait to dig in.

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From their website:

The HighScope educational approach is based on the belief that young children build or “construct” their knowledge of the world – they are “active learners”.  This means learning is not simply a process of adults giving information to children.  Rather, children discover things through direct experience with people, objects, events, and ideas.  They learn best from pursuing their own interests while being actively supported and challenged by adults.

And:

The space and materials in a HighScope setting are carefully arranged to promote active learning.  The center is divided into interest areas organized around specifics kinds of play; for example, block area, house area, small toy area, book area, sand-and-water area, and art area.

Sounds good, right?  Sounds great, actually.  I agree wholeheartedly with the foundations of the HighScope curriculum, which is why I was shocked and disappointed recently when I read in one of their new resources that “Computers are a ‘must’ in early childhood classrooms.” (Setting Up the Preschool Classroom by Nancy Vogel, p. 81)

WHAT?!?  Since when?  And says who?  Computers are a “must”?!?  Not according to over 70 professionals who recently signed a letter to NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children).  This letter was written by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood with help from the folks at the Alliance for Childhood.

From the letter:

In the world of medicine, implementation of any medical practice intervention is guided by the principle “Do no harm.”  We believe that maxim should guide the use of new technologies in classrooms, particularly since screen time may displace activities with proven benefits for young children such as direct hands-on exploration of the world, connecting with nature and with other human beings, and child-initiated play.  Given the vast amount of time that young children are spending with screens and out of child-care settings, and the growing concerns about the impact of screen media on children’s well-being and development, we urge the NAEYC to take a leadership position in efforts to reduce the amount of time children spend with screens and promote the kinds of hands-on creative play proven to be beneficial to their growth and development.

And:

Given that there exists a wealth of screen-free educational activities known to be beneficial to children, and limited data on the costs/benefits of screen media – particular, new media – for young children, we strongly recommend that the burden of proof should be on documenting the benefits of screen media, and on proving they are not harmful, before it is assumed that screens should be incorporated into early childhood environments.

Lisa Guernsey of The New America Foundation is more in favor of computers than those who signed the CCFC’s letter.  She has her own letter to NAEYC posted on her blog, Early Ed Watch.  But even though Guernsey is more supportive of computers in early childhood settings, she also cites her own warnings and recommendations, and doesn’t agree that computers are now a “must”.

So I ask: why such a strong (and in my opinion, dangerous) statement from HighScope?  Believe me, I am trying to find out.

And consider the e-mail I received recently, with the message line reading “Here is your Digital Kindergarten”.  The pitch letter started out like this:

Please enjoy this Digital Sample Digital Mini-Text for your students.  Complete Curriculum publishes dynamic K-12 digital textbooks and highly-interactive web-based instructional programs that make learning fun and “cool” for today’s whiz kids who eat, breathe, and sleep technology.  Our groundbreaking format takes students out of the dull world of traditional print textbooks and transports them into the exciting world of interactive textbooks and lesson plans where learning becomes fun.

Uggh!  So now we have a digital alternative to the “dull” world of print textbooks.  Hmm, here’s a radical idea: how about letting our students interact with the world around them?!  Play with real people and real open-ended materials?  Explore nature, art materials, building materials and actual books?!  Could the real world be an alternative to the “dull world” of print textbooks?  To paraphrase Free-Range Kids author Lenore Skenazy, when did the preschool/kindergarten we grew up with become so radical?

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