Discover Toys

As a parent did you anticipate that part of your role in raising your child would be to discover toys for them to play with? When I first started out on the parenting path I had no idea that it involved so much research about what is good for children. I guess I thought that children just developed and my role was to be there to guide them. I was wrong.

While for the most part all children follow a relatively consistent developmental pattern, its not until an important learning skill doesn’t develop as it should that I realised it isn’t as automatic as I assumed. When I was growing up it seemed everyone was pretty much lumped in together and there was little allowance for developmental differences. Now parents are far more willing to intervene. I’m not sure if it is because we all expect more from our children these days or because there is a greater understanding of the developmental needs of children. I suspect that it is probably a combination of both but I do know that if you are going to intervene to compensate for a development difficulty then you need to do it before your child is nine years of age.

I thought my son was a bit clutzy (like his mother!) and that was why he stumbled over things and seemed to fall over easily. It wasn’t until he started to learn to write that it was recognised that he had a problem crossing his midline and that this was hampering his development. We took him off to a physiotherapist for some specialised attention but I was also keen to discover toys that could help him overcome this difficulty.

One toy that helped the most was the humble blackboard. Making large chalk circles with one continuous motion on a big blackboard while keeping his body still was great way to teach him to cross from one side of his body to the other.

Other activities we did with him were exploring his body on a padded play mat (things like somersaults, cartwheels, handstands, all activities that require balance) and dribbling a soccer ball around a set of strategically placed cones.

That is what worked for my son but all children are different of course and have different developmental requirements. As a responsible parent you need to discover toys that will both stimulate your child’s development and help them to grow into confident little individuals. This starts from the very beginning - toy and baby are not two words that you always here but they do go together. Despite what older generations may tell you, babies do need toys to help them develop – but if you want to maximise their learning ability, don’t just settle on any old toys.