Electronic toys are in fashion and we will not deny them. But we could talk about a misuse of certain items, if children are left alone with them waiting for the device in question to interact sufficiently with our children (apart from entertaining). A study has indicated that electronic toys limit the use of language in children and that these have a lower vocabulary or will take longer to speak in a certain way.
And, of course, it is not the same to play with mom, dad, siblings or friends than to do it with a machine, which can come in handy to enhance children's motor and cognitive skills, but at the same time they could limit their verbal and social abilities.
At the University of Northern Arizona, United States, a group of researchers set out to reveal the influence that different types of toys have on young children. They concluded that electronic devices with lights and sounds are associated with the use of lower quality language and less profuse in words.
On the contrary, thanks to linguistic exchange that occurs with families when sharing traditional books and toys, the language was more developed in children 10 to 16 months of age (the same range as modern toys).
The study, published in the latest issue of the journal JAMA Pediatrics, is titled "Keeping Children's Attention. The Problem With Bells and Whistles" (something like 'Keeping the attention of children. The problem with bells and beeps').
Specifically, for the study, the 26 participating families received three types of toys: electronic (a baby computer, a farm with sounds and a mobile phone); traditional (wooden puzzles and rubber blocks with images); and five cardboard books with farm animals, shapes or colors.
The interaction between parents and children was recorded with all these toys and they saw that while playing with electronic devices, parents use less conversational turns, respond less to children and use fewer words than when they were with books or puzzles. The children also saw differences, since they vocalized less while playing with electronic toys.
The key to these results is that the toys that most attract children's attention, those with lights and sounds, also somehow "hypnotize" them for a long time, and then neither speak nor talk to them if we neglect. It is not that lights and sounds are pernicious stimuli, but we are neglecting other necessary stimuli if we focus exclusively on them.
Playing traditional games in which there is more than one participant, shifts are established, dialogues are discussed, norms are discussed, questions are asked, certain roles are assumed ... In short, there is more communicative interaction, which is after all the basis of the linguistic and social development of babies.
It is noteworthy that the moment parents used the language most was to share the books, which is also not strange since you have to tell them what is happening on each page, we ask them more to interpret the drawings, try to repeat the names of the animals or objects that appear ... and each page is a different surprise.
Of course, we are not against technological toys, but we must be aware that children lose some things in front of the screens, so you should look for an ideal combination and not abuse games that "absorb" the child and be alone with them.
In this way, the drawback of with electronic toys language development may be diminished It will not appear and we will share a great game time with our children, more traditional or more modern, but without neglecting the conversation, the word, the songs, the books ...
