Violence is not child's play
by Daphne White -- Gifts and Dec, 2/1/2001 12:00:00 AM
Every day, parents come into my friend Karen's toy store and ask her to recommend an 'educational' toy for their child. "I tell them that every toy is educational," she says and asks parents, what do they want their child to learn?
Blocks teach building skills. Balls help with hand-eye coordination. Board games teach children to take turns and follow rules. What do toy guns, swords and action figures teach?
Some would argue that violent toys are actually useful for children, because they help release aggression in a "cathartic" way. Besides, with all the violent messages bombarding children today-from television to movies to video games-do violent toys really make a difference? Can violent toys teach violent behaviors-as dolls teach nurturing behaviors-or are other factors more important?
Dr. Malcolm Watson, chair of the psychology department at Brandeis University, created a research study to answer this question. He decided to study children at two different day care centers, half of whom played extensively with toy guns at home, while the others did not. He wanted to know whether playing with guns had a beneficial effect; whether children who played with toy guns would display less aggression, since they would have "worked out" their aggressive feelings.
Watson found that the opposite was true: "increased real aggression towards other children was associated with increased toy gun play."
And Watson is not alone in his findings. His review of other similar research showed "most researchers believe that pretend aggression using toy weapons, rather than providing a cathartic effect on aggressive feelings, simply gives the child a chance to practice more aggression."
We all know that children learn through play. In fact, it has been said that children's work is play.
But is it fair to blame violent toys when so much of today's media culture also promotes violent values? There is violence in the movies, in video games and even on television news shows.
So why worry about toys? Because toys are now linked to many of these media products. Licensed products now constitute about half of all toy sales. And young children cannot distinguish between the violent programs they see on TV, and the violent video games they play. All these products have the same message: violence equals fun.
The recent Federal Trade Commission report on the marketing of violence to children found that action figures are now being used to market adult-rated video games and movies to children as young as five years old.
This past summer, six major public health groups-including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association-concluded, "well over 1,000 studies.point overwhelmingly to a causal connection between media violence and aggressive behavior in some children."
Parents, of course, can intervene. It was as a concerned parent that I started The Lion & Lamb Project, an initiative to help educate parents about the importance of play and to give them the tools to make responsible decisions about children's entertainment. We offer workshops nationwide and co-sponsor violent toy trade-ins around the country.
But what about the toy industry? At Toy Fair 2000, Lion & Lamb worked with the Toy Manufacturers of America to sponsor a first-ever workshop on the role of violent toys. At that workshop, the TMA publicly promised to begin work on a set of guidelines for the toy industry regarding violent toys.
That work has not yet started. As Toy Fair 2001 opens, it is time for the industry to join hands with parents to ensure that children can play in peace.
Daphne White is founder and executive director of The Lion & Lamb Project (lionlamb.org), based in Bethesda, Md.
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