As a highly sensitive person, I harbour a hatred of all kinds of sounds, but that's not the main reason why our child doesn't have any toys with batteries in them.
Imagination is a powerful playmate
Think back to your favourite childhood toys, please share what came to mind and why in the comments. My favourite toys were a rocking horse, a stuffed animal dog and a giant cardboard box my parents had turned into a small playhouse, complete with curtains and a door.
That rocking horse played the part of a motorcycle, a cow in milk, a race car and let's not forget an actual horse. The dog was my constant companion on all my adventures and the house a safe place to hold pretend tea parties and tuck in my dolls.
I had toys with batteries, I know so because my mum still complains to this day about the noise they made. I can recall a piano, which I loved to play and a cassette tape recorder, but the other toys I have absolutely no recollection of. It's not like I'm trying to say that I can remember every toy I ever owned without a battery, only that the list of the recollected ones in that category is proportionally much, much longer.
Fixed Toys
As I became a parent, I knew I had to be strict about what kinds of toys I would allow into our home, not to mention how many, but that's a different subject. As we prepared for the arrival of our little one, I decided that I would be most comfortable with toys made of natural materials, that didn't make mechanical sounds. We stuck to our guns and today, almost two years later, you'll see lots of wooden, fabric and handmade toys. With the wonderful addition of my old Lego Duplo. What we decided would be our guideline was to opt for toys that aren't too fixed in their nature. My rocking horse (which is waiting patiently at my in-laws for when we get a little more space) is a great example of such a toy. It's a horse, yes, but that never stopped my imagination. The point is to select toys that even when they have a distinct look, isn't so detailed in their shape and function that they can only be one thing. Sounds, lights and battery powered movements are often indicators of a fixed toy, a toy that doesn't allow imagination to be a playmate to the same degree.
Playin on their own
These battery powered toys are often so full of functions that they actually don't allow the child to play at all. Instead, the toys play on their own while the child passively looks on. The difference in engagement between such toys and a tv screen can be difficult to find.
This is the reason we don't have any battery powered toys. It's true that most children love them, but they also love screens, that doesn't mean we as parents should allow them access to them at their will. It's not like our child is deprived, he even has access to such toys when he visits family. It is, however, our right as parents to not bring them into our home if we so choose. We would much prefer that our child plays on his own than him sitting passively and watching a toy play on its own.
What is your opinion on battery powered toys?
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