Motherly: Giving your kids fewer toys at Christmas makes them happier
More is not better, says UC early childhood education professor Michael Malone
It’s the time of year when parents frantically race to stock up on the hottest toys of the season in hopes of piling presents under the Christmas tree. But new research suggests that giving your children lots of toys actually makes them less happy. Michael Malone, a professor of early childhood education at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Education, Criminal Justice, Human Services, and Information Technology, weighs in on the evidence in a story published by Motherly. He advises parents to carefully manage their children’s access to toys.
"More is not necessarily better. This is a myth that needs to be extinguished from western suburban culture. Our work shows that having fewer toys is associated with less solitary play and increased sharing. Conversely, too many toys can cause a sense of overload," he said in the story.
Read the full story here.
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