Does childhood toys carry the same value?
Justin Thomas
There is a teddy bear in the Canadian War Museum. Its known as the Rogers Bear. Its not much to look at; its missing both eyes and both legs. This threadbare bear once belonged to a little girl called Aileen. She gave the bear to her father Lawrence Rogers, perhaps intending that it might comfort him or keep him safe while he was away working as a medic during the First World War. On October 30, 1917, Mr Rogers was killed in the Battle of Passchendaele. He had the teddy bear with him when he died. It was recovered and returned to Aileen. Today it sits in the museum in Ottawa, a beautiful example of what psychologists might call an attachment object.
We need things and things need us. This is a prehistoric relationship that Stanford professor of anthropology Ian Hodder,describes as entanglement.
We are dependent on all kinds of objects in our daily lives for their functional value, from cars to computers and household appliances. However, some objects fulfil our emotional needs too.
Certain objects can soothe us and provide us with a sense of security. Similarly, some objects might give us a feeling of connection, such as an old school tie, or belonging, like a traditional dress, reflecting significant social relationships or group memberships.
Such attachment objects can be powerful promoters of emotional wellbeing.
Pretty much anything can become an attachment object and the emotional significance typically has nothing to do with the monetary value of the item.
Things that become attachment objects tend to be portable, long-lived and are often items that have been gifted or made for us.
They are not typically things we have bought for ourselves. You can shop for objects but attachment objects are not available in the stores. They are made in the minds of their owners.
Having attachment objects is healthy. Many of us have them but might not be aware of what they are.
Think of something you own that is entirely replaceable in the material sense but would cause you disproportionate distress if it were lost or destroyed. If you can think of something, that might be an attachment object.
As children, we will often have a toy, teddy bear or even a blanket to which we become particularly attached. Some of us might also carry these childhood attachment objects into adulthood. Children become emotionally attached to cuddly toys, blankets and even smelly old scraps of material because they intuitively believe they possess a unique essence or life force, psychologists said yesterday. In a study that will surprise few parents, it was found that children preferred their cherished comfort blankets or favourite raggedy bear over duplicates apparently identical in every way.
The results suggested that even very young children invest in such objects intangible qualities that cannot be replicated.
The study compared the reaction of the children to that of art enthusiasts who prefer an original to a copy that is identical in every way.
Previous studies have shown that up to 70% of young children develop strong attachments to objects such as toys or blankets. The phenomenon tends to be confined to the western world, where children usually sleep apart from their parents at an early age. Bruce Hood, of the University of Bristol, and Paul Bloom of Yale University in the US, decided to try to find out why. Parents were asked to bring children aged three to six into a laboratory with their attachment object or if they had no such object, a toy or doll that they liked.
To count as an attachment object, the child had to regularly sleep with it and have had it for at least a third of his or her life.
The children were shown what they were told was a copying machine - in reality a conjurors cabinet made up of two boxes. The doors of the two boxes were open and a green block put into one of them. Then the doors shut, an experimenter twiddled some knobs and the first box buzzed.
A few moments later a buzz came from the second box. The doors of both boxes opened to reveal a green block in both of them - the experimenter had slipped an identical block into the second box.
Then the experimenter asked the children if they would let the objects they had brought in be copied. They could choose if they wanted the new one or the old one back. All of those with non-attachment objects allowed them to be copied and almost two-thirds decided to keep the new object - in fact, it was their own object.
Of the 22 children who did have attachment objects, four stubbornly refused to allow them to be copied at all. Of the 18 who did let their precious items be copied, only five opted to have the duplicate.
At the end, all children were shown how the illusion worked so they knew they had their original item back.
Prof Hood said the experiment showed that children believe that in addition to the physical properties of their objects, there was some other quality to them that cannot be
copied. He said: If there was a machine which copied a favourite object in every way down to atomic level, we would still prefer the original. It has an essence to it. This experiment suggests this is an intuitive process.
We anthropomorphise objects, look at them almost as if they have feelings. The children know these objects are not alive but they believe in them as if they are.
While the tendency to sleep with a comfort blanket is thought to be largely a western trait, Prof Hood said believing objects had an essence was not. Some eastern beliefs centre on all things having a life force and some cultures find it difficult to live in other peoples homes because they feel there is something intangible left of the previous people in them.
Toddlers can play with a wider variety of toys than they did when they were smaller. They might still enjoy some of the toys they played with as babies, and thats fine. The same blocks they played with a year or two ago can provide them with new and different educational opportunities as their knowledge expands. But they also need toys that are designed with kids their age in mind. Shape sorters are great for toddlers. They teach them how to match similar items and provide parents the opportunity to teach them the names of the shapes. Lego blocks provide an opportunity to learn more about colors and symmetry while they develop their motor skills.
When children reach preschool age, its time to start learning about letters, numbers and language skills. There are lots of toys that encourage this type of learning, from simple alphabet puzzles to high-tech electronic gadgets. These can give your child a head start by introducing her to the things she will be learning in school. Kids who are in school can supplement their learning with fun and educational toys.
Giving them the opportunity to have fun while practicing the things they are learning in school will increase their retention of those things. And when your child finds an educational toy she really likes, she will be more likely to play with it, reinforcing the things she has learned.
Children can learn a lot from playing. When you give your child educational toys and play with them with her, it gives her a chance to bond with you, learn, and have fun at the same time. And making education enjoyable will help your child retain the things she learns and develop a positive attitude toward learning.
The writer is an associate professor at Zayed University, UAE
