Published by the International Parenting Institute.
Ever have one of those books that is different than most others you have seen; a book which calls to your mind, developing a hunger for more of it and never getting enough? Smart Play Smart Toys is one of those books. It is not just a book about children and play, it is in actuality about you! From the very start it envelopes you in its virtual arms, drawing you through exercises where you close your eyes and become a kid again. You discover yourself deep in thought as childhood memories come to life once again.
Just like a mystery novel where you are eager to discover more of the facts to find answers, or a Sci-fi book where your mind begins to envision the scenario of fantasy described in the book, you find yourself being drawn into the book completely. As you are reading you begin to feel a funny feeling, a soft memory of comfort and security, much as when your parents used to hold you in their arms when you were young. You feel safe, secure, and never getting enough. That what this book is all about in its own unique way.
As an added bonus, you begin to learn to understand your child's needs for play. Your buying experience with them at a store can evolve from a task to an enjoyable adventure as you maneuver through the metal jungle of store shelves, learning of unknown dangers, and seeking the hidden treasure your child is looking for...together.
When reading this book, it will become a learning experience that won't stop upon completion of your reading, it holds an essence of influence that will continue on with you. When properly equipped with what you learn from this book, an entirely new perspective in life is created for you. It is a perspective which can change not just your own life, but that of your child's life forever.
Society influences and dictates its pressures so that many parents today are both forced to work full-time and try to be a caregiver for their children, with what seems like no time left with which to do so. As you read you will learn to reclaim your control and influence on your family from society and the media, bringing the family core back into focus. You will essentially find a wealth of invaluable information to help you as a parent for your child's overall development.
In our report from the Developmental Psychologist / Special Education Advocate, she stated, "I am most impressed with the author's smooth progression with the various age groups featured, but even more so with her detailed source information in regard to Special Needs children." She continues on to say, "Many authors group these children into a singular group form of reference. This author however, has broken the multiple classes of definitions into a form which parents can more easily handle, yet maintaining the attention of a professional who works in that field."
"Dr. Toy has created a book which empowers parents with good, solid, information and resource references. This book will enable them to have the power 'by choice' to influence a strong and productive evolution of their child's development."
Further into his report, this evaluator makes note of how the book helps parents to realize and fully understand that the impact of their efforts has the potential to be far reaching with a positive impact, even into their child's adulthood."
Considering this was a book instead of a toy, we took a different approach in hands-on evaluation. We went to a local county library and a local mall, requesting parents to sit down for a one-hour period, to read part of Smart Play Smart Toys, It became evident in a relatively short period of time, that our own definition of the effect of this book upon a reader was all too accurate. Once a person sat down to read this book, the chances of them stopping anytime in their reading were slim to none!
Of course we were curious to discover the reason for this from a consumer's standpoint, so we inquired of each parent who was reading the book, what was so special about it, that they would become oblivious to everything else around them as they were reading the book.
One mother in particular was extremely expressive in her response to our query. She said, "These exercises in the book are so different!" We were a bit lacking in definition of what she meant by that statement at first, but the woman soon resolved that. In her feedback form she wrote, "It was so moving to me when I followed one of the first exercises, just closed my eyes and began recalling memories of my childhood." "I could literally see my little pink dolly my grandmother made for me and I felt as though I was actually there again, holding my dolly close, smelling my mother's sweet perfume she always used."
Another mother pointed out in her feedback form, "There were so many resources outlined in that book which will help me with my son." "My son is a special needs child and there are times I want to just give up, yet after reading that book and seeing that my son is very special. I just need to understand this, helps me so greatly!"
With our new approach of videotaping all segments of our evaluations and seeing the physical and emotional responses from children and parents alike, we can now see so much more in our evaluations. This situation was yet another which touched the hearts of all of us as we watch the videos. We fail to realize how much of an impact a single product can possibly have upon an individual. The videos bring us back to reality and increase our sensitivity with our hands-on evaluation participants.
They are now a very vital part of our evaluations. Smart Play Smart Toys was a slam dunk positive in this part of our evaluation.
The overall content was diverse, well laid out, and simply captivating. In her own words, Dr. Toy summed it up so perfectly, "The book helps parents navigate the thousands of toy and play options available, offers tips on how to evaluate toy safety, and provides 160 activities that enhance PQ, (Play Quotient). It identifies gender-specific and age-appropriate toys, important craft supplies for playtime, and hundreds of ways to make play a life-long and nurturing experience. Smart Play Smart Toys scored a perfect score in this category.
In all consumer hands-on evaluation feedback, Smart Play Smart Toys delivers a substantial contribution of stimulation to critical skills for greater learning and self-esteem improvement for individuals or groups, with an extended term legacy impact for children. In this case the educational content level is judged to nothing short of outstanding. The reading response associated with Smart Play Smart Toys was judged to be outstanding. The book delivers well thought out and proven content. It encourages long term and repetitive viewing without producing a sense of being redundant for a very well balanced combination of quantitative information, an abundance of suggested resources, and overall content.
Our behavioral study specialist made us aware of how in every video tape, each person demonstrated a very strong evidence of impulsive response while reading the content of the book and going through the various exercises suggested. The exercises encourage a generous level of participation with all of the participants in the hands-on evaluation. Smart Play Smart Toys was another one of the favorites in our entire collection of products which have been inducted.
Rev. James G.W. Fisher
The Toy Man
The Toy Man with other evaluators including Developmental Psychologist, Special Education Advocate, Behavioral, Educational Psychologist, Attorney plus parents.