Home Education Plastic Toy Companies, the Environment, and Children’s Mental Health

Plastic Toy Companies, the Environment, and Children’s Mental Health

By
James Herer
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685
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Have you ever notice how marketing strategies of plastic toys for children are aggressively attacking both the parent and the child? These environmental hazards, omnipresent nowadays, which almost nobody cares who are producing and which countries will it ends up when becomes waste or trash, are starting to swallow our civilization. But it doesn’t end there; it also has profound implications to the issue of our young’s mental health and well-being. As for the people who are sceptical or just new to the issue and who haven’t seen the connections yet, just think again that everything is connected and what’s outside is mostly what’s inside – as within, so without. So because plastic pollution destroys our ecology, therefore our home, it can also have adverse impacts to our brain and our mind as organic human beings that are profoundly connected to it; to this uniquely animate natural world.  

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Something to Think About

To give you an idea, the world produces more than 300 million tons of plastic per year. The saddest part is, 50% of this pollution is the single-use plastics that can exist for hundreds of years. In addition, our oceans along with marine lives that are dependent of it receive 8 million tons of plastic waste per year. So, in some parts of the world, massive animals are dying and many are going extinct because of our ungrateful activities.  As unconscious creatures detached from our higher selves, our natural human connection to our own planet, the living conscious organic earth, seems like has been cut off at the moment. From heavy metals to microplastics (both can also be found on human body and blood across different populations), the pollution has greatly harmed and killed the helpless animals, annihilating other flora and fauna life forms too, in areas that are supposed to be protected and nurtured.

Check these links to see who the top plastic polluter companies are:

The Lack of Profound Education

Produced mostly from large factories and other industrial processing facilities, plastics might (or perhaps already has been) be the main cause of death for us humans in the future. This is why we have to change our ways. The environmental problem alone caused by plastic overproduction, misuse, and mis-production can clearly explain why we humans need to greatly and radically reduce our dependency to this technology and in general, to stop our unconscious habit of consumption of useless and even toxic products that destroy not only us but also our planet. Looking at different directions, people need intensive education about many vital social issues related to these topics or concerns more than ever. Massive and intensive education… this is one of the first major remedies to this current disease of our civilization.

For more information about the global plastic pollution and other related issues, check out these links:

The Marketing of These Junks

Although it is perfectly normal for a child to enjoy and play, therefore to use materials that can be used for executing this play or pretence, parents must also remember always that this can also have serious implications to the child’s psychological aspect and even adverse impacts on it. In marketing of these things alone, plastic toy companies strategically use bright colors, scientifically studied settings, and other attractive and effective tactics that are meant to sell their products. This alone is a form of malicious manipulation targeting our young children in a subtle yet efficient way. And since children are humans and most of us humans cannot resist dopamine or the pleasure from reward of getting or experiencing something right away, an instant gratification, sometimes in a form of serious addiction, they cannot help but pave their way to have this stimulation, sometimes even violently. As a parent, would you honestly think this is not some form of psychological abuse to your child? We can’t be sure but in general, it’s disrupting to your parenting practice and in the long run, it’s harmful both to your relationship and to your child’s mental health.  

The Important Role of Oxytocin in Mental Health

As contrast to this problematic dopamine addiction, the solution to this void is genuine care and affection and spiritual connection. Because of our busy modern lifestyle, this sacred connection between the parents and the child/children have been replaced with superficial alternatives and even deadly comforts from technological availability that is why our body’s natural capacity to self-protect and heal is suppressed. Therefor as a critical substitute to material gratification or stimulation (dopamine addiction), or brain stimulation through material objects such as toys, videogames, etc., children should be raised organically through the power of affection and real love – kisses, hugs, listening, empathising, hugs, and more hugs! With this, we have oxytocin, a perfect neuro-chemical.

For more about this natural wonder drug called oxytocin, check out these links:

Parenting and Bio-hacking Skills / We Need More Oxytocin Junkies!

This is scientifically proven very helpful to the child’s brain development, including to their cognitive abilities, and also to the cultivation of the child’s empathy, understanding, and acceptance; therefor their relationship to other people and things. This is all mostly because oxytocin is a so-called “love chemicals” or “happiness hormones” that has a profound spiritual benefits to the individual. Just like other neurotransmitters, it triggers “love and happiness” to the brain in a harmless yet favorable way. It has been clinically proven that oxytocin is our strong natural resistance against stress, anxieties, depression, unrest, and even pain. Therefore, compared to dopamine, oxytocin has more benefits that are more healing to us humans and that are long term. Therefore to heal this connection of humans and the sacred nature on the psycho-spiritual level, parents must instead cultivate things that are related to the oxytocin production on their children’s system.          

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