Imprinting

Many new parents feel a pressure to have their baby's seat or bouncy chair cluttered with all sorts of interactive plastic 'mobile' toys. This is a modern phenomena that needs to be seriously challenged. We can't have kids growing up with plastic being the only thing they interact with at such an early age. All the fuss about 'imprinting' should make us aware that if a child is going to grow up in tune with their planet it is important to introduce them to natural materials, at least at the same time in their development as they are bombarded with the many plastic manufactured products which have flooded today's 'baby market'. There ought to be an emphasis on introducing infants to things like wood and stones at a very early age so that they don't grow up feeling that plastic has to be the norm and needs to be the predominant material of their existence. A simple stone attached to a baby stroller or seat will give the child equal time with a material that can inspire their imagination and enable them to explore other aspects of the real world other than the bland, clinically sterile, shiny, primary colour world of plastic. After all, the importance of, and the responsibilty to be , 'thinking with one's hands' (and not just the mind) can begin at a very early age.