The science behind it says that we give our children too many toys, and that they will actually be happier with less. In a recent university study in Toledo, researchers gave toddlers either 4 or 16 toys to play with for a half hour block of playtime. What do you think happened?
Surprisingly, the toddlers who were given 16 toys played with each toy much less, switching quickly between toys in a state of distraction. The toddlers who had 4 toys took much longer with each toy and used more imaginative play as they did so. One could argue that the children who had too many toys grew overstimulated and became bored much more quickly than the children who had a better quality play time with less toys vying for their attention!
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