Smart Technology Toy Buying
December 7, 1999
© 1999, Douglas E. Welch
The holiday season is upon us and many of us will be going out
to buy the latest, greatest technology toys for our children,
nephews, nieces, grandparents and even ourselves. There are some amazing toys on the market this year, but here
are a few guidelines to remember when finishing up your shopping.
Balance
While I have seen some neat new toys this year I always like to
balance out the technology with some of the old traditional favorites.
Books, wooden blocks, dolls, stuffed animals all make excellent
gifts. A fancy new Nintendo GameBoy? sure is fun, but we all need
a little variety in our lives. This Christmas our 19-month-old,
Joseph, will receive gifts from us, but every year he will also
receive at least one special, traditional wooden gift; something
that could have been created in Santa's Workshop. In this way
there will always be a little balance in his toy box.
Turn it off, Turn it down
Whatever you do, if you want to keep your friends, make sure any
technology toys you buy can be turned off or, at least, turned
down. Volume controls and off-switches are a must. These days
you wouldn't buy a friend's child a drum without asking their
parents first. The same is true of loud tech toys. More and more,
I am seeing toys with headphone jacks, too. This is a welcome
addition. Be careful, though, that the volume levels aren't too
loud for sensitive, young ears.
Interaction
Make sure any toy you buy engages the child instead of just entertaining
them. There are many devices out there today that ask questions
and play various games with the child. In my opinion, children
get enough of "delivered" entertainment from television. Tech
toys should engage them in some sort of game or dialogue and interact
with them. This is not to say that every toy has to be educational.
I like toys that teach, but sometimes we all need to just have
fun playing pretend. In reality, all children's play is a learning
experience.
Get involved
Regardless of the type of toy or the amount of technology, the
best gift you can give to any child is your time. Sitting down
with them and playing with whatever interests them at the moment
will most likely be one of their strongest memories in the future.
It can even be fun to play around with toys that weren't even
conceived of when you were a child. I am terrible at video games,
but it can be an interesting experience to let your self be beaten
ten straight games at Super Mario Brothers by a ten-year-old.
Sit down with a child and help them play the game of ABCs or "Which
Animal is Which?" You might just feel a little younger and it
will also make you a better judge of what toys to buy next year.
Happy Holidays from our family to yours!
Douglas E. Welch is a freelance writer and computer consultant
in Van Nuys, California. He also writes Career Opportunities, a weekly column on high-tech careers and A Gardener's Notebook. You can find more of Douglas' writing on his web page at: http://www.welchwrite.com/
He can reached via email at douglas@welchwrite.com
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