a mom-rant
Nov. 23rd, 2009 12:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seldneiThe Zweeble has fallen in love with my DS. But he's 2 and not very gentle, and today we got into it over the fact that he can't just mess with it, I have to help him with it. It wasn't pretty. Time out was involved.
Anyway, we're recovering from time out, and I start wondering about a little hand-held he could have for himself. I'm not planning anything, as he's already got a boatload of toys and stuff coming for Christmas, and getting him his own kiddie laptop wasn't a giant success in keeping him away from mine, but I was turning the idea over. Thus, I went looking.
And, seriously, what is it with everything like that for toddlers/preschoolers being "educational"? I have serious doubts as to how much that sort of thing actually teaches a kid, to begin with, and then ... what, the kid can't just have fun and run a car around a track or play with a pretend dog? Apparently not--until they're seven or eight, anyway.
It's kind of like how almost every kids' show for that age group is about solving problems. Handy Manny, Imagination Movers, Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse--if it's on Disney, it's a problem solving show. (PBS has that, too, to a certain extent, but I have to say that Curious George hides it a lot better.) What about just a story, rather than this connect-the-dots plot thing?
Because you learn from stories, you know. You can even learn while having fun. But you learn better when you get to just have some fun, when your entire life isn't based around work or structure or stressing out over solving a freaking problem.
(I may be the only parent on the planet trying to find a video game player with no redeeming educational value whatsoever.)
Anyway, we're recovering from time out, and I start wondering about a little hand-held he could have for himself. I'm not planning anything, as he's already got a boatload of toys and stuff coming for Christmas, and getting him his own kiddie laptop wasn't a giant success in keeping him away from mine, but I was turning the idea over. Thus, I went looking.
And, seriously, what is it with everything like that for toddlers/preschoolers being "educational"? I have serious doubts as to how much that sort of thing actually teaches a kid, to begin with, and then ... what, the kid can't just have fun and run a car around a track or play with a pretend dog? Apparently not--until they're seven or eight, anyway.
It's kind of like how almost every kids' show for that age group is about solving problems. Handy Manny, Imagination Movers, Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse--if it's on Disney, it's a problem solving show. (PBS has that, too, to a certain extent, but I have to say that Curious George hides it a lot better.) What about just a story, rather than this connect-the-dots plot thing?
Because you learn from stories, you know. You can even learn while having fun. But you learn better when you get to just have some fun, when your entire life isn't based around work or structure or stressing out over solving a freaking problem.
(I may be the only parent on the planet trying to find a video game player with no redeeming educational value whatsoever.)
