The Science of Us: Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz

Stress Toys for Tots: The mental-health industrial complex comes to the kids’ aisle.

- Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz

ABOUT A YEAR AGO, my 8-year-old niece was giving me a tour of her at-home desk setup, where, among glitter pens and cookie-shaped erasers, I spotted a big red stress ball. “Is that mom’s?” I asked, recognizing it as the kind of thing usually found in adults’ offices. It turned out it belonged to her, and when I wondered what she needed it for, she explained, “I’m so stressed out right now.”

I don’t have kids, but it wasn’t long before I noticed that the homes of people who did were full of things their children could squeeze, pull, punch, and poke, ostensibly to help them relieve stress. At a toddler’s house, I came across a ten-pack of Squishmallows, squeezable stress balls disguised as animals. Back at my aunt’s, a look inside her 6-year-old son’s toy box revealed a menagerie of thick, floppy noodles that could withstand aggressive stretching and twisting and plastic tubes designed to expand and collapse like giant bendy straws. One friend’s 7-year-old seemed to have a normal stuffed-animal collection, until it was revealed that some were weighted to help relieve anxiety.