A new study by experts from the University of Toledo says that having too many toys is bad for children’s behavior, the Herald Sun reported. Australian data shows that some kids have up to 250 toys and parents spend on average $670 per child per year.
Expects say that’s excessive. Their study shows that kids who have less toys play for longer and are less distracted. The study was simple. It looked at toddlers playing with four toys versus toddlers playing with 16 toys.
“With fewer toys, participants had fewer incidences of toy play, longer durations of toy play and player with toys in a greater variety of ways”, Alexia Metz from the University of Toledo says.
“When there is an abundance of toys, small collections can be rotated into play while the majority is stored away, providing opportunity for novelty without creating the distraction posed by having too many toys available”, she adds.
Less toys help for the duration and depth of play. This means kids develop their creative skills and imagination more. More toys bring less attention, more “bratty” behavior.
Of course, not everyone agrees. Tracy Daw who is a mother of a 4-year-old boy says she buys a lot of toys and her son and his friends are very creative and mix things up a lot. The keywords here are “creative” and “mix it up”. This means that the toys are in rotation.
Some kids can do that by themselves. Others, though, would need the help of their parents. So, maybe don’t fully stop buying toys for kids, but don’t go on big shopping sprees, either. And also, help your kids rotate their toys and mix things up to keep it interesting.