Materialism, child development and the Nintendo DS

It is easy to bemoan materialism -- the wanting and needing of more stuff -- and when adults see children exhibiting signs of it, they can't help but disapprove. Look at all these spoiled kids, the old folks cry, nagging for cell phones and iPods and the Nintendo DS. What a shame, the thinking goes, that they can't simply be happy with a swing in the backyard.

But what if a child's desire for stuff is rooted in something deeper? I just came across an article published six months ago in the Journal of Consumer Research that has made me wonder. The piece, written by Lan Nguyen Chaplin at the UIUC and Deborah Roedder John at the University of Minnesota, says that materialism can be explained by a child's sense of self-esteem. The lower the self-esteem, the more the kid wants stuff. Age and stage of child development play a big role too. In early adolescence -- those awful pimple-pocked years of middle school -- children want to see their peers look up to them. When they've got new stuff to show off, they get that hit of fame, shortlived though it may be.

Why am I dwelling on this at the moment? Because I'm in the middle of writing a chapter about mobile technology and children, and after interviewing nearly two dozen pre-teens this summer, it has become fascinating to see how they use their electronic devices (the Nintendo DS is a particular favorite) to broadcast their identities, cement their friendships and dig deeply into worlds of intrigue or performance (Pokemon, The Jonas Brothers) that they connect with emotionally.

What I hadn't quite grasped until read Chaplin and John's article, though, is how much their attachment to their electronic devices fits in a continuum of child development. As a grown-up who still admits to my own need for stuff, I can see where they are coming from.

Now if only someone would write an article helping me situate theories of child development within the thicket of Pokemon.

Questioning the French approach to banning TV for kids under 3

According to the A.P. this morning, the French government has just barred French TV channels from broadcasting programs that are aimed at children under 3 years old.

The story also reports that French cable operators that offer foreign channels with programs for babies must "broadcast warning messages to parents. The messages will read: 'Watching television can slow the development of children under 3, even when it involves channels aimed specifically at them.'"

I'm fascinated and troubled by this development. In research for my book, Into the Minds of Babes, I found that with Sesame Street, for example, some of the strongest examples of learning occurred with children between age 2 and 3, particularly in children from low-income backgrounds.

And while the jury is still out on exactly how much children under 2 can pick up and gain from TV, I did find serious research from developmental psychologists who use video to train children on new vocabulary as part of their larger endeavors to figure out exactly how children learn best. A few of those studies have found that in the few months before age 2, some children show signs of learning words from video programming if it includes repetition and social interaction intended to help them grasp what the words mean. A University of Connecticut study that used doctored versions of Teletubbies is one example.

We want children to grow up in rich language-based environments. That means having parents read to them, point out new objects, label and describe what they observe, and then give their children -- even in their first year -- a chance to communicate or talk back. Agreed, TV is not ideal for such exchanges and some parents rely on it as a babysitter far too much. But that doesn't mean that video programs can't spark new conversation, inspire grown-ups to talk to their babies about new things or, as was the case in our family, let us get our giggles, wiggles and new words out while we danced along with characters we saw on the TV set.

Do you agree? Has France has gone too far?

Elmo, Chris Brown and YouTube

Elmo and Chris Brown have me smiling along with Sara Mead of the New America Foundation, who highlights their video collaboration from a recent episode of Sesame Street. It's on YouTube here, but Mead provides helpful context in the Early Ed Watch blog about the pro-literacy message and how desperately low-income kids may need it.

Plus, get a load of Elmo's harmonizing. Lovin' it.

Children's lit crit and eureka moments

If you're like me, the New Yorkers stack up week after week, a silent reminder of how fast the cultural waters rush past when you have kids. But I did get a chance to comb through a few of them last week. That happily led me to Jill Lepore's July 21st article about Stuart Little and the history of children's book reviewing, which didn't even exist until after the turn of the 20th century. It's an interesting comment on how our society has sharpened its vision of what entertains young children and what is "good for them" at the same time.

Also worth a read: Jonah Lehrer's piece about how and why those eureka moments come when you're most relaxed. (I've got his Proust book by my bedside, and I'm looking forward to cracking it open after 1) finishing Great Expectations for book club and 2) clearing my plate of The Omnivore's Dilemma.)

Speaking of ideas and our constant talk of them (or should I call it our constant hand-wringing about not having enough time to really make use of them), don't miss this cartoon by Barbara Smaller, either. It's just so U.S. of A.