Simple toys are far more empowering, because it's so much easier to imagine turning them into one object after another. We need to give them a real live person to interact with, not an electronic toy. They place a kind of straitjacket on children's play and may confuse preschoolers who are still trying to sort out reality from fantasy. A much better toy, she says, is a simple doll for whom children themselves do all the talking. In fact, one great gift idea for young children is for parents and grandparents to give themselves a good parenting book or a collection of songs, games, or nursery rhymes they can share with the children they love.
Electronic toys replace the child's own ideas with programmed scenarios designed by adults.
Toys fueled by a child's own imagination, in contrast, don't require recharging or expensive equipment. In fact, constant heavy use doesn't wear imagination down at all, but powers it up for a lifetime of innovative thinking and creative action. Resisting Unhealthy Children's Entertainment. Today, the pervasive influence of electronic media undermines play, she adds. Children spend a lot of time watching television.