Toys, screens or time?

The Christmas holiday is here again. It is always a period of excitement and joy as children look forward to all their favourite meals and parents consider the prospects of a new year. 

Children are at home the whole day, lazing around, playing mischief and making demands on parents. Routines are relaxed and parents struggle to juggle their time to include child care.

Most parents are faced with familiar decisions of what they can occupy their children with, to keep them engaged. More toys? More screen times? Or just let them enjoy the break?

While toys and screens have their place, research and everyday experience remind us of a simple truth: what children benefit from most during holidays is how their time is used.

One of the most valuable ways to invest that time is through reading and fun activities.

Toys are usually the first thing most parents think of during the holidays.

They convince themselves that children have worked hard during the term and need toys that will bring excitement, novelty, and joy.

Toys that support thinking, problem-solving or creativity have a better developmental impact as compared to others which the children play with for a few hours or days and then lose their excitement. The truth is that toys alone are unable to build deep skills.

Screen

During this season, it is easy for families to find comfort in screens as a source of entertainment.

This presents a great time of bonding and sharing positive vibes.

Phones, tablets, and televisions help occupy children when parents are busy or tired.

When guided by World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations and with the appropriate controls to ensure child safety, screens can be useful and educational.

However, when screen time becomes unstructured and excessive, it can displace important activities, such as, reading, imaginative play, and meaningful interaction.

The fact that children are on holidays is not an excuse to expose them to long screen hours.

The negative effects of screen time such as poor sleep patterns, reduced attention span and emotional dysregulation will still prevail if exposed for long hours.

Although school may be on break, children’s development does not stop.

Every conversation, story, and activity contribute to how they think and learn.

When parents choose to invest in reading resources, they are sending a powerful message that the child’s mind and growth is worth nurturing.

Reading

What shapes a child’s development is not so much of what they own as to how they spend their time.

Brain development occurs actively when children are given opportunities for reading, thinking, asking questions and quiet exploration. 

This is why reading-based resources are valuable during school break.

Reading builds language, concentration, imagination, emotional ­­­­­­­­­understanding and confidence.

Investing in reading materials during the holidays offers long-term benefits.

Reading supports multiple areas of development at once and can be adapted to a child’s age and interests.

It encourages calm focus while also sparking curiosity and creativity.

More importantly, reading helps children develop a positive relationship with learning.

With resources that combine reading, simple activities, and thinking exercises, parents can move from worrying about keeping children busy to celebrating what children are discovering each day. 

During this Christmas holiday season, toys will be opened and screens will be enjoyed and both are perfectly fine if done within reasonable limits.

In addition to these, parents should consider giving their child an enduring opportunity such as access to reading, thinking, and meaningful learning time.

Toys may wear out, and screens will change, but the habit of reading and the love of learning can last a lifetime.

The writer is a child development expert/Fellow of the Zero-To-Three Academy, USA.

E-mail: nanaesi.gaisie@wellchildhaven.com