I recently watched Terrence Malick's Tree of Life. The film is centered on a family with three young boys growing up in Waco, Texas during the late 1940s. It chronicles their childhood, the ups and downs of their family life and the long, languorous days that seem to stretch on interminably as the years go by. They play in nature, wade in streams and entertain themselves for hours on end with old tin cans. I was struck by the contrast of their "play" to that of my 8-year-old nephew and 4-year-old niece who recently came for a week-long visit. They spent a good portion of their time staring at tiny hand-held screens that were screeching and flashing. They sat next to one another, but were so riveted by their individual experience that they did not interact with each other. On this same visit, I gave my four-year-old niece a new doll for her birthday. She opened the box with great zeal, and professed her love immediately. Fifteen minutes later, her new doll was placed nicely in the corner and she was back on her device. When I asked her if there was a reason that she was not playing with the doll, she shrugged her shoulders and informed me that the doll "did not do anything."
Enter any toy store and you will find that most toys do "a lot." They beep, buzz, and have flashing lights and screens. They have everything your child needs in order to be entertained, mesmerized, bombarded and distracted. Toys that do "a lot" are actually doing "too much" and unfortunately, your child is doing "too little." Most importantly, what they "do not do" is develop creativity and imagination. Children must be active participants in order to exercise and grow their imagination and creativity; it cannot be downloaded or uploaded. The simple act of thinking is very challenging when the background noise is so invasive and the pace is preset at whirlwind speed. The collateral damage of inattention is immense. It affects the ability to learn, to think, to read, to study, to concentrate at school and to form deep and connected relationships. As a psychotherapist, the psychological harm I have seen is enormous!! A child's self-esteem takes a huge beating when they don't "get" what is going on around them, when they do poorly in school or when they can't connect with other kids.
Although there is no single cause for the epidemic of attention disorders, it makes intuitive sense that over-stimulation on a constant basis cannot possibly be helping matters. According to the Center for Disease Control, the number of children 3-17 years of age diagnosed with ADHD is 5.3 million to date and that number is on the rise.
That number is extraordinarily high, however, I believe that it profoundly underestimates the number of children that are having difficulties paying attention, but do not meet a level that is significant enough to diagnose. When the threshold for excitement is so high, the ability and desire to concentrate on nuanced and subtle aspects of life become uninteresting and in the words of my two daughters, "annoying."
The sharpening of attention skills develops over the course of many years and essentially the brain needs to practice paying attention in order to become proficient. Research has shown that computers and computer games often conflict with the brain activities needed for the development of these "attention" skills. Too much sensory input makes it difficult to pay attention to only one activity and eventually impairs the overall ability to stay focused. It is imperative that parents encourage play that nurtures focus and attunement. You can accomplish this through choices of toys and games that you allow your child to play with, and most importantly, through the time you take to connect and attune with your child.
If you are living a fast-paced and busy life, the downtime you get from a seemingly innocuous "device" that passively entertains your kid, is probably a welcome respite. However, Gameboys, computers, cell phones and the plethora of over-stimulating toys should not be your babysitter. I am not advocating a militant, anachronistic journey back to the days of handmade wooden toys and found objects. What I am advocating is that you as parents take a conscientious look at how your child is spending his or her playtime. Make sure that all of your child's free time is not screentime. Choose toys and games that inspire creativity, artistic development, musical ability and physicality. Try to choose activities and games that motivate children to relate with each other. For babies, sometimes even simple objects like stacking cups and wooden spoons can be used imaginatively in multiple ways. For older children, think about toys that do not do "a lot" such as dolls, action figures, blocks, trains, instruments, art projects and books. Beware, you may encounter some resistance when you choose Legos rather than PlayStation, but stay the course.
The window for creativity and attunement that is open during childhood is vital to the development of the person, so give it plenty of thought before you plop your child down with an electronic toy that totally consumes him for hours and turns him into a zombie. Give your child's brain a chance to work, and not be worked on.
Now I'm not bragging, or saying this is how it needs to be done. Just sharing.
I guess my point is that in my opinion, a healthy balance of "inert" toys and electronic gadgets is out there somewhere. And if they are playing video games or watching DVDs, just try to make them age appropriate as I don't think young minds need to be exposed to some of the content out there just yet. Innocence is fleeting so let them be kids as long as possible. In this case, the saying ignorance is bliss, seems to be a good thing.
Oh well, my soapbox seems to be starting to crack so I'll get down from it.
http://www.enipuzzles.com/
This comment is disingenuous at best and erroneous at worst. ADHD does HAVE two definitive causes—it is a biological condition transmitted genetically or based on birth trauma—it is not CAUSED by environmental factors, although most experts would agree with the premise suggested in the article that attraction to stimulation (such as video games) is a characteristic behavior of ADHD individuals.
Aww heck. That'd still be entertaining.
Our children and grandchildren need to get unplugged from their electronics for 4-6 hours a day, maybe for a walk in the park, frying ants (lessons on optics and biology), maybe fishing or generally interacting with the parents. Visit a farm, start growing beans and other seeds. Check out the people who actually make stuff. There are plenty of things to inspire imagination if the parents are willing participants. If the weather is bad, maybe a co-reading session, or cook something (a simple yoghurt smoothie is a treat and healthy too).
Parents are not entirely blameless. Take that doll and teach parenting, interaction, imagination. Giving a doll and no direction, and using it for play and life-lessons, are two completely separate things.
A mind that is given all thought from a box never looks outside the box to think. A mind that goes and experiences the universe and imagines what the rest of the world is like is like an open parachute, and can seek to imagine better.
Now this is different if it's an object, toy, or game that needs some initial instruction such as a yoyo, a musical instrument, or a bow and arrow(safe ones ;) )... etc. An initial bit of instruction and help to hone skills are called for there. But as to "how" to play with a doll, I think you're better off just playing along side and interacting with the child. A little imagination wouldn't hurt any of us either.
Understand that I was an only child, and my "peers" were not learning or "playing" at the same thinking plane I was. "Peer-play" seemed to be far more structured than play with my parents. Peers seemed to be learning things that went against all the things my parents and teachers were presenting us. Learning hypocrisy is a problem. I saw my peers learning this, and trying to get me to join them in acting differently in situations that simple sense told us should be handled very differently.
I married into a family where there were already maturing children, and watched how they transferred the game-play (with the violence and criminality), enforced by the "music" (especially the lyrics) into their manner of dealing with others. Some grew out of it, but there were those who took these attitudes tot he street, with the anticipated consequences.
Science, Engineering, Programming, Architect, Inventor, etc.
Because those jobs don't require ANY thinking outside the box. But McDonalds does.
It is not just the car ride or the short wait that is the problem, it is the hours on end of brain-numbing to which the children become addicted. It is great you spend time with your children, but does your time do anything, or is it just idle time with nothing but letting them play in the (not so) fresh air?
Inspire, imagine, involve.
I don't think liberalism shrinks your creative functions. In fact, if encouraged me to look out of the box because I grew up in an ultra-conservative neighborhood. That being said, I'm also not silly enough to say liberalism is a cure or being conservative is a curse. Instead, I think creativity actually has something to do with your childhood and raising a kid to actually think beyond that which is in front of them which SURPRISE has nothing to do with politics :O!
Conservatism is about thinking back
Liberalism is about thinking forward.
In fact, I'd say Liberalism is actually utilizes imagination TOO much. All too often people are dreaming and thinking about the world that "could be" as opposed to the world that "is."
Yeah, it would be nice if we all stopped eating meat blah de blah, and then the animals will be safe, right? Except no matter how much people go Vegan, we still kill and still eat animals. In their imagination they think they're making a difference, but not one of them is.
'Idealistic' is a result of imagination, and typically you find a lot more idealism on the left side of the spectrum. But it's not like he was saying it based on experience or any knowledge of what he was talking about. He was just trolling.
Obama....National Health Care System.