Summary: Mark Hamilton, CEO of Just Ask Baby, discusses findings that show that too many toys can be very detrimental to their development. “The Truth About Toys for Infants” written by eminent child development expert David Elkind Ph.D. and available as a free download from http://www.justaskbaby.com/ebooks. It lifts the lid on the inherent conflict between manufacturers’ need to generate profits and children’s need to learn and develop. In the report, Professor Elkind cautions against buying too many different toys, particularly ones that may over-stimulate a child. “A toy-packed crib presents the infant with too many colors, shapes, textures and sounds at one time, which can overwhelm an infant,” said Professor Elkind, Just Ask Baby’s Chief Scientific Advisor. “The golden rule of providing toys for a child is less is best.” According to Professor Elkind, author of more than a dozen books including “The Hurried Child” and “The Power of Play,” infants process information much more slowly than adults. “A baby learns a great deal from playing with the same toy over an extended period of time,” he said. “Variety may be the spice of life, but not when it comes to infant learning.” “This is not what toy manufacturers want parents to know,” says Mark Hamilton, founder of Just Ask Baby. “The toy industry is a multi-million dollar business, and parents are faced with a barrage of advertising trying to sell them toys for their children, regardless of whether they are good for children’s development or not,” said Hamilton. “Many advertisements even make parents feel that some toys have educational benefits, when the scientific evidence in Professor Elkind’s report points to the opposite conclusion.” “A young infant may learn most from a set of colorful wooden blocks, which they can use to learn and understand shape and texture,” said Hamilton. “But there is more money in selling parents a ‘baby laptop’ and associated games and add-ons, for example, than in selling wooden blocks.” Just Ask Baby, a company and the world’s first broadcast-quality online, on-demand TV channel for parents, released a free e-book that details how too many different toys can actually hinder the development of infants, and provides some tips for parents wondering what toys are best for their children.
