11 Comments
Dec 20, 2023Liked by Dr. Cara Goodwin, PhD

Love this article! I saw your Instagram post about this research and it reminded me of what you said about children learning from apps as well. It seems like we have to monitor how exactly our children interact with technology in general. I guess we should be ensuring that it is interactive and stimulating if we want our children to receive any benefit from it!

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Toys that allow interactions with parents or peers are so important!

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I've been saying this for years, it's like adding another person to the conversation who never stops talking. Low-tech toys for the win!!

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Agreed 100%. Thank you for all you do on this!

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Dec 21, 2023Liked by Dr. Cara Goodwin, PhD

Dr. Goodwin, this is a fantastic overview, thank you for putting it in one place. The part about Santa was particularly interesting to me, as my wife and I have been thinking about how to approach the whole thing for weeks. We follow a pretty down to Earth approach with realistic stories and experiences that our Mattie can relate to, but it just feels like the gravest crime to rob a child of Santa. In the end we decided to embrace him, but without implying he's real, only a beautiful story that brings comfort and warmth. Time will tell if it was a good choice. Thank you once again!

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I am so glad the research supports what you want to to in your heart!

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Dec 20, 2023Liked by Dr. Cara Goodwin, PhD

This is so interesting! I think it's really important to give parents the information on why certain things might be "bad," so they can make informed choices about how and whether to use things like electronic toys.

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Yes! I like to get all the information out to parents so they can make informed decisions.

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Dec 20, 2023Liked by Dr. Cara Goodwin, PhD

I always try to avoid electronic toys because they do. It encourage open ended play but I was not aware of this research on language development and interaction. Thank you for sharing.

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I found it so interesting as well!

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Thank you so much for this. We’ve really struggled with knowing what to do about Santa. Our child is 2 so it’s about time to figure this out. Many thanks as always for the insights!

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