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Quality not Quantity - A Toy Buying Guide
by Rachel Webb
Retailers have provided parents with a wide variety of choices available when it comes to purchasing toys for our children. It can often be confusing to know which toys parents should buy. Good toys should meet several criteria.
AGE APPROPRIATE
First, toys should be age appropriate. Focus on what your child needs to develop both physically and emotionally and look for toys that can help them grow in those areas. For example, a baby needs toys that can help him learn to reach and grasp learning hand/eye coordination and stimulation. While toddlers that can walk need toys they can pack around with them as they explore their surroundings.
SAFE
Avoid toys with small pieces that could be lost or swallowed. Toys need to be sturdy as well. Toys that break easily can be a unexpected safety hazard. Look at toys from a Childs point of view and anticipate how rough they might be on it. You should ask yourself what part could break first and why? According to the National Safety Council, well over 6 million children are injured each year by accidents involving children's toys and other products.
STIMULATE CREATIVITY
Look for toys that will not stifle a Childs imagination. Often mechanical toys are entertaining but take away a Childs chance to participate. Avoid toys that will not teach or develop skills. The best toys let a child think or perform.
CHEAP IMITATION
If you child has an interest in a hobby, avoid buying a cheap imitation of the real thing it is still a toy. Whenever possible save up money to buy the real thing. For example, will your child get more use out of a real sewing machine instead of the play one they want? Would money be better spent on your budding artist by purchasing real beginning artist's brushes rather than a cheap watercolor set with hard to control blunt brushes. Often a bad purchase can discourage newly found talents when a child gets frustrated with the end result the product created.
QUALITY NOT QUANTITY
Children can become overwhelmed at gift-giving occasions to the point that they don't know what to play with or can't concentrate on one toy long enough to let their creativity bloom. It may not be due to the wrong kind of toys, but rather, to many toys! Long term exposure to excessive gifts
can actually be harmful to children. As they grow older they could be learning that "things" and spending money is the only important things worth seeking in life. If being given everything they want is normal for children they don't learn the value of earning or work ethics.
Giving our children gifts is not a bad thing but when choosing appropriate toys remember the old saying buy "quality not
quantity."
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