Clinical Child Psychologist from UI: Lato-lato Can Evoke Positive Emotions and Improve Motor Skills
The sound of “tek-tek-tek” has recently been heard in open spaces. The sound comes from lato-lato, a toy that is widely popular among children, even adults. Even though it looks simple, the toy of swinging two small balls that are bumped at each other requires special skills.
Clinical Child Psychologist who is also a Lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Indonesia (FPsi UI), Efriyani Djuwita, S.Psi., M.Sc., Psikolog., said that the toy is able to evoke curiosity and spur children to master it, especially if many people around them are skilled at playing lato-lato. “The trend of lato-lato in society is able to increase curiosity and trigger one to try it. Thus, eventually we find many children playing this toy everywhere,” said Efriyani.
More than just a toy, according to Efriyani, lato-lato can evoke positive emotions for someone –especially for children–, such as happy emotions because they feel successful and proud for being able to do it. This is one of the positive emotions that children may feel when they successfully play lato-lato.
“Because this toy really sharpens motor and physical skills, children will be trained in this aspect of development. In playing this toy, the control of hand motor movements also plays a role so that the lato-lato balls can be successfully bumped as they are supposed to be. If it is seen further, from a social aspect, this activity is being played by everyone, so it can be a medium that can help children’s social interactions, such as playing together. In addition, a sense of competition can also grow in children,” said Efriyani.
According to her, even though lato-lato is a simple toy, it is necessary to pay attention to its suitability for the age of the child. For this reason, the role of parents is needed in educating and accompanying them when playing lato-lato. Another thing that also needs to be considered is the material of the toy because recently there was a case of a child who had to have his eyes operated on due to being struck at by the shards of lato-lato.
“First, parents definitely need to select whether this toy is appropriate and suitable for their children. Second, when parents know which games are safe and suitable for their children, parents can provide an example of how to play them first if the children have difficulty playing them. Here, parents can become play leaders and then slowly let children trial and error and play their way. Parents can also give rules about when this game can be played and where the safe and suitable place to play it,” said Efriyani.
Efriyani further added, the next step that parents must take is that parents can become co-players, meaning that parents can become children’s playmates. Finally, parents can also play the role of onlooker, meaning that parents become observers and are ready to help if their children need help. This also means, if the children are skilled at playing lato-lato, parents still have to supervise.
On the other hand, lato-lato also influences the rules of several schools in Indonesia. For example, Education Department (Disdik) of West Bandung District forbade Elementary School students from bringing lato-lato to school. Responding to this, Efriyani said that the school implemented the regulation for a number of reasons, for example it disrupted the course of school activities, created the risk of accidents, and so on.
“Actually, schools can provide a certain space or time to play this toy so that the supervision from the school can also be optimal. For example, on certain days, children are allowed to bring and play lato-lato at certain times and places. You can also create competitions between students. I think it can be fun and useful for kids. The point is, because this is in school area, this game absolutely must be supervised so as not to cause accidents and not to disrupt school activities,” said Efriyani.
