The world of childhood is a strange world. The world of wishes and dreams. The colorful world of toys. The world where you become a cartoon princess or the hero of a story, a brave knight. who goes to war with enemies. Simulation in the world of children It is natural. It has been seen many times that little girls They like to have clothes similar to their dolls Or the boys secretly ask their mothers for police uniforms prepare a doll that is inside their toy police car. Cartoons and programs that are prepared for children’s entertainment can have a great impact on the child’s mind and spirit. Have because The child’s world gets used to it and the child wants to identify with the space, and it is not wrong to say that A child’s life during puberty is dependent on these childhood thoughts, and therefore the role of toys, cartoons and childhood entertainment becomes very prominent in people’s lives.
Surveys have shown that the child’s personality with toys and entertainment childhood is formed Imagine a young girl who spends every day with all kinds of Barbie dolls in beautiful and glamorous clothes and even falls asleep at night hugging her favorite Barbie. An animation of the same name. Also made that The family prepares for the child’s excessive interest, and in fact, Barbie and her cartoon life are institutionalized in the child’s mind, and later he asks himself why he should not dress like his doll and appear in society? And the same mentality continues until puberty and the cultural conflict manifests itself here. This impressionability is not only for girls. Violent and noisy toys for boys make the child engage in socially inappropriate behaviors such as murder, kidnapping, and theft. And he introduces crime and it strongly affects his adaptability and social relations. War toys pretend to children that war is entertainment and play, and this has a very negative effect on boys’ morale and personality and makes them very nervous and hot-tempered people in the future. and thus Parents should make sure that only healthy and safe Being and quality a toy A suitable criterion for It is not measured And you should pay attention to the psychological effects of toys and animations.
The biggest concern of parents is to provide toys for their children that are healthy and safe and attract the child. In fact, more attention is paid to the appearance of the toy than to its role in the education and development of the child’s personality. Many parents think that They think that the more colorful or expensive the toy is, the more it will attract their child, while this is not the case. It has been seen many times that the child, having colorful and expensive toys, goes to a plastic cover and spends hours with it. is having fun
Psychologist and behaviorist Dr. Mohammad Salem says about this: “The best toy for every child is the one that fascinates the child and he goes to it again and again, and this depends He has a child in his spirit. Contrary to what parents expect, the more non-specific and fundamental the toy is, the more room it leaves for the child’s imagination, and this is more interesting. Researches have shown that most children are also fascinated by such toys and spend hours and hours entertaining themselves with them. Of course, they deny children’s interest in colorful dolls, cars and guns I am not different But the child gets used to these types of toys Creative toys that amuse the child and do not get used to it.
He about The standard of toys says: “It is very good and reasonable that the toys are healthy and made of high-quality materials due to direct contact with children. And the quality control of toys should be done as carefully as possible, although as far as I know, many toys are smuggled into the country and the access of officials to control them is limited. But the important point is that the quality control alone cannot be a good measure for the standard of the toy, but in my opinion, the classification Toys in different age groups and whether this toy is useful for our culture or not and can be effective in raising children is much more important than the quality of the toys.”
What is certain is that the standardization of toys according to the needs of children is one of the concerns of the officials. According to the experts, currently, one million and 800 thousand dollars worth of toys are imported into the country every month, which is actually very common due to the fact that apart from official imports, unofficial imports and toy smuggling are also very common. We are faced with a large volume of imports, and the current standard of toys has attracted the attention of all countries. These standards are constantly “updated” and tests and Many tests are done on them. In Iran, six years ago, the issue of toy standards was seriously raised. Before that, the standard institute used the latest toy standards prepared by the country of Australia, and as a result of this law, the standard institute had to monitor both domestic toys, whether they have the standard seal or not, and imported toys. but the main question is whether the quality control of imported toys is sufficient? Did you pay attention?
Dr. Salem continues: “In my opinion, the criteria for buying a good toy It is necessary to ask several questions: 1-Does this device allow the child to play with it alone or should it be played with Others play with it? 2- Does the child’s creativity Stimulates the? 3-Does the toy cause the child to move? 4-Does the toy expand the child’s social interactions? 5-Does the toy interact with the child’s family culture or does it conflict with it? Paying attention to these points will be effective for preparing toys for children and for standardization Toys should also pay attention to these points, especially in the cultural part Because the dolls with bad clothes or the heroes of Western novels like Spider-Man or my idol It is specific to the western culture and later makes the child feel conflicted with his own culture.”
He also believes: “The most successful parents are those who, while loving their children, have expectations from them. They show unconditional attention to their children and spend hours with them and enjoy it. Good parents are parents who pay attention to their children’s interests, desires, and problems and set limits for them. The same is true in choosing toys. It creates in them and makes them feel self-reliant in their childhood, although parents should guide children in choosing toys. and point out the problems, but it is better to be invisible”
In any case, what is certain is that despite the fact that play and toys play an important role in the mental development and strengthening of the child’s social spirit, if it is not compatible with the cultural values and principles of psychology, the desired result will not be obtained from it. In our society, whose cultural infrastructure is formed by religious beliefs, and it is expected that boys and girls (future women and men) enter the society by maintaining chastity and safety, which despite the toys that promote foreign cultures, cultures that Amana may be very suitable for their communities For our Iranian-Islamic society, the work becomes difficult and this is how the break of generations begins and later the society has problems with the younger generations, something that maybe today about the issue of hijab and the type of clothing worn by young girls and boys. It feels good.
Meanwhile, we should not ignore the role of computer games, which have made a good place among families. Nowadays, playing computer games at all ages has become normal and natural and is a serious concern for parents.
A constant worry about the destructive effects of these types of games on children’s spirit and body or lack of success in the main life programs such as studying due to spending a lot of time on these games, etc. can be seen and heard in the everyday words of parents. In the age of technology and communication, every Today, we are witnessing the arrival of a new product and its rapid placement in the basket of goods of families, especially in developing countries. Once, video, computer, satellite, etc., and today, computer games in various types and in many periods. They came to engage the minds of families who care about the positive and negative consequences of using this tool by their children. Computer games became popular in Iran in the mid-70s and entered families with the arrival of a model called “Atari”. In those days, not only children, but also adults used this device and counted the seconds of the fun and losses, and in other words, they stole Atari sticks that were in different shapes and sizes in the market from each other. With the newer technology and With the progress of human research, Atari gradually became an out-of-class product and PlayStation entered the field. Of course, this game was an evolved version of Atari, but the quality of the movies, game graphics, and hardware was improved. With the popularity of the computer, PlayStation gradually gave way to all kinds of computer game CDs. Atari, which according to many experts was the healthiest type of computer games, was erased from everyone’s mind in such a way that it became a funny backward toy for the children of the 80s, and now there are no traces of this game in homes and markets. It is not as if such a thing never existed.
What is interesting in these changes and developments is the distance of the content of these games from our culture, the increase in violence in the games, the use of obscene images, etc. with their becoming newer. It is the body that these games leave in children, and in addition to them, the education of a violent, aggressive and impatient generation is the result of the work of these games.
Dr. Salem says in this regard: “The least effect of computer games on children is isolation and loneliness, promotion of violent behavior, mixing fantasy and reality, and academic failure in higher grades and during school, which can be attributed to He also added obesity and inactivity, but something that can be found It is impossible to stop the invasion of computers and game consoles, and therefore it seems that the only solution is to start producing local games and castrate our facilities in this field.
Undoubtedly, despite the ever-increasing progress of communication technologies such as the Internet, satellite and mobile phones, it is not possible to prevent the import of western cartoons and myth-making films such as Spider-Man, Barbie, Harry Potter, etc., or to prevent the import of western dolls and toys. Rather, it is necessary to strengthen native and Iranian myths and heroes so that dolls and toys can be made that promote Iranian culture.
For example, Dara and Sara dolls were produced with local and Iranian clothes, but they did not gain much success because there is no knowledge of these dolls for children and their families. Production and making of cartoons and movies for children from authentic Iranian and religious myths and stories. Creating and telling stories about the dolls that are made can bring children closer to the doll characters so that they can communicate with them. Therefore, in addition to investing in toy factories and the support that should be given to toy factories. The role of education and broadcasting should not be ignored.
Seda and Sima can produce programs that show authentic and Iranian legends and heroes They introduce that playing an important role in this field and by placing authentic Iranian-religious stories and legends in the textbooks of the children’s age group, play can introduce Iranian children to these heroes in order to take a positive step in the production of toys. Asil is removed, parents at home can also help in this matter And pay attention to this issue Toys and animations It is not only to entertain children for an hour so that they can spend hours without worries These toys can be the beginning to build the future of their children , so in the preparation of toys Don’t pay attention only to the price and quality and try to provide creative toys according to the spirit of the children and according to the family culture. Prepare for them In the future, identity-cultural problems will occur be prevented
MOSTAJAR