LESS Toys and TV

Some parents might call me a monster for the topic of this week's blog. Others will likely nod in agreement, or even let out a "well, duh". No matter what you think, it certainly makes me feel like a curmudgeon to suggest that kids don't need a fraction of the toys most of them have. This goes especially for babies and toddlers, but also extends upward in age.

Now this does not mean that my son does not have toys. He has lots of them. Though I feel no shame admitting that I have bought him very few of them. Most came in the form of gifts from friends and family. I bought him a xylophone for his first birthday and I have given him some balls and blocks on other occasions. Like I said, he has a lot more toys than the ones I bought him.

But you know what? He doesn't even want to play with his toys most of the time. I can picture many parents nodding after reading this. It often seems like he wants to play with everything but his toys. He find the "toys" that grown-ups play with much more interesting and a few implements from the kitchen will often occupy him for much longer than any toy he owns. So while I appreciate all the gifts that he has received, I don't feel a need to buy him toys. If someone wants to get him a gift I usually suggest something practical (clothes etc.), or a new book.

Some folks might wonder how I occupy him. Well, unless the weather is very brutal we spend a lot of time outside. He runs around, plays with a ball, inquires into the natural world, and attempts to "help" me in the garden. I let his curiosity dictate what we do most of the time. As long as there are no hazards I let him explore indoors and out.

This saves money and keeps the small home we rent from getting too cluttered with things that don't hold his attention for too long anyway. It also prevents us from spoiling him or overstimulating him. I find the latter a huge problem nowadays. How do we expect a child to focus their attention on one thing when we present them with so many options to divert it? Many parents give little thought to this. They plop their kids down in front of the TV with some toys that flash and sing, then they wonder why their child has a short attention span. But to me ADD seems like the inevitable response to a constant barrage of inane sounds and pictures. For this reason and one I will get to in a second, I also plan to keep Theo away from television as much as possible.

I realize that if I want to continue with the LESS (Less Energy Stimulation and Stuff) approach to toys, that I need to keep the child marketing machine from getting its hooks in my son. Limiting his exposure to commercials should help. Except for a few shows via the internet, my wife and I don't watch much television. Theo does not watch television now and we don't plan on letting him watch much when he gets older. We will probably introduce him to Sesame Street after his second birthday. Though I'm still weighing if and how we will do this. I watched a lot of TV as a kid and I don't think it had a positive influence on me. But I don't have a problem with Sesame Street, especially after a recent study that claims the show helps prepare children for school. In any case, keeping him away from TV should help us in that fight, because the demands for particular products usually come from TV commercials. I know that many of the cartoons I watched as a kid were nothing more than thinly veiled advertisements for the show's line of toys (Transformers, GI Joe, HE-Man, etc.). And I know that advertising to kids has gotten more sophisticated since then.

The services we use to watch TV don't have commercials, so we can keep him away from them at home if, for instance, we decide to let him watch some pre-approved cartoons on weekend mornings while we sleep in. But I know that he will get exposed to advertisements elsewhere. So I imagine that I will need to talk to him about commercials and advertising. He will get exposed to some video content. I can see us watching movies together on weekends, especially in the winter. I have looked forward to showing him Star Wars for the first time since long before he was born.

We will also need to pay attention to the influence other children have on him. But that is a subject for another blog. Ultimately, I know that much of the joy of my childhood did not come from my toys. Far more of it came from the little adventures I had with friends and the active imagination that kept me occupied when I was alone. I certainly don't look back and wish I had more toys, or that I had watched more TV.