How many toys does a child need for happiness?

Counters of modern toy stores are literally full of a variety of goods. At desire it is possible to buy to the child something brand new though every day. But will it benefit him? And how many toys do you need at all for a happy childhood?

Game all ages are submissive

To begin with, the children's interest in toys depends on their age. From the moment when the baby begins to crawl, and up to 1.5-2 years old, he goes through the stage of a "little researcher". He will be keenly aware of the world, making simple manipulations with objects: open, close, put one into another, disassemble, build from the objects of the tower ... In addition, he will get great pleasure from everything that produces a variety of sounds. When the baby learns to walk, you will also need toys that he can carry along on a string. It could be a truck, a locomotive or, say, an animal figure. Toys for this age can be very simple - the main thing is that they meet the needs of the baby.

From 2 to 4 years, the child's fantasy is actively developing. He is happy to come up with more complex actions with different objects and often no longer explores their properties in the game, and initially knows what he will get as a result. In addition, he actively imitates the behavior of adults and plays out scenes seen somewhere, still quite simple. For example, a boy carries cubes on a dump truck from one end of the room to another, and the girl feeds and puts her puppets to bed.

From the age of 4 to 6, the child continues to model reality in games, but now the scenes he plays are becoming more complex. He plays in a family, a farm, a construction site, a circus, a siege of a fortress, and so on, and now his toys should be put together in appropriate "systems". In addition, from this age the kid can already appreciate the realism and complexity of the toy, to say exactly what else he needs, and compares his toys with those that he sees in his friends. Children of this age can already become victims of fashion - and if they do not buy a doll or a superhero like everyone else, they may simply be turned off from the children's society.

Why do they want more and more?

Absolutely at any age a child needs not an abundance of toys, but the game itself. That is, as a matter of fact, they are required no more, than the kid is capable to involve in the games. However, children with whom no one plays and who do not know how to occupy themselves, inevitably begin to look for comfort in the number of toys. And indeed, each new acquisition first pleases them, but not for long. After a while, the novelty disappears, and then boredom comes, and with it a burning desire to get a new toy.

Enormous role also plays. While around there are no other children with expensive fashionable toys, a child with at least a minimally developed imagination will quietly manage with a small number of them, and even household items. Imagination easily transforms the stick into a machine, the old curtain - in a princess dress, and the table covered with a blanket - in a mysterious cave. A doll's house made of a shoebox can give a girl no less joy than a purchase - but only until there is a girlfriend, enthusiastically bragging about the "present."

Therefore, a child completely devoid of "fashion" toys, runs the risk of becoming an outcast among other children. But buying them a lot is a big mistake. The same can be said about "smart" toys: this, of course, is great, and we ourselves in due time would give much for a robot, talking doll or radio-controlled helicopter. But there is one trap. Many parents are sure that the more difficult a toy, the more it will contribute to the development of the child. However, this is not entirely true: the more the toy itself knows, the less it is necessary to invent how to include it in its game. For some children, this does not prevent them from developing, but most of the kids begin to be lazy and stop training their imagination. It's much easier to press the buttons of a music house than to invent a new game. Too detailed toys also pinch the imagination of the kids in a vice, because the variability of their use disappears. Fashionably dressed Barbie is difficult to imagine, say, as a terrible forest witch, but a simpler or even self-made doll gives a much greater scope for imagination.

However, this does not mean that the arsenal of toys should be replaced urgently with chopsticks and rags. It's just that everything is important in everything. If you see that the child sluggishly interacts with his toys and does not come up with games for the games, then something went wrong.

The problem of satiety

When a child has too many toys, he inevitably ceases to appreciate them, because the place of a broken doll or a machine can be taken by any other, and then new ones will appear. To the preschooler is not satiated with his toys, you can use one very simple technique. Hide for a while part of them until he gets bored with what remains in his access zone. Then the toys can be swapped, and those that he has not seen for a long time will be perceived as new. A small child needs a few months to forget about what he played with before.

Developing the imagination

It is important that the child had not only toys, but also materials for creativity: paints, plasticine, cardboard, threads and so on. Under the guidance and with the help of parents, you can also create new toys from handicraft items: a garage or motorway for cars, a house or a hospital for dolls. Such lessons are usually very popular with children and quickly cause them to break away from the most complex and expensive toys. Developing the imagination of your child, you can after a while discover that his games as a whole have become more complicated and interesting.

You can even make a real puppet theater (even a simple one) with the whole family and organize your own shows. Such a curiosity a child can often surprise even the most satiated comedians with fashionable toys.

What if there are too many toys?

Even if you do not spoil your child with new acquisitions regularly, stopping the flow of new toys is not so easy. After all, the kid has other relatives! In addition, many believe that it is impolite to come empty-handed into a house where there is a child. And it can be very difficult for them to explain that there are enough toys in the house, especially if the baby is already used to gifts from guests. But the apartment is not rubber, it can not accommodate an infinite number of toys! In addition, too many of them scatter the attention of the baby.

Each child has favorite toys with which he spends the most time and even sleeps. And in the same way there are "optional", the disappearances of which he simply will not notice. At the kid till three years they can simply be seized and hidden on a mezzanine or completely thrown out. But it is better to hide the unnecessary for a few months at first, so as not to become a witness of the grief from the loss of the beloved (it turns out) bears. If the kid does not miss the disappeared toys, then they can be discarded with a clear conscience.

With a child of a more or less conscious age, you need to negotiate. Explain to him that there are too many toys and you can buy a new one only when you get rid of those with whom he has already played enough. The easiest way, of course, is to take boxes with bothersome property to a landfill, but it's much better to tell the kid about other children who have very few toys, and suggest doing a good deed. You can, for example, together carry a box with a donation to the nearest orphanage or make the neighbor's baby happy. The generosity of the child, of course, should be rewarded, so that he has the idea that sharing is good. But it's better not to buy him another toy, but to reduce it to some interesting event. And be sure to allow your child to decide for themselves which toys can be disposed of, and which ones are still important.

Most importantly, do not become a sad confirmation of the rule: "The number of toys in a child is often inversely proportional to the amount of attention that he receives from his parents." Spend more time with your children, help them to come up with games and develop imagination. Then they will not need a lot of toys at all.