Rarely was there a date from then on that I didn't have a supply of mints, gum, or some other type of breath altering products available to me. My bad breath was consuming me during my dates with my girlfriend or being in close contact with anyone else for that matter.

If you are one of millions of sufferers of chronic bad breath then I'm sure you can relate to me. And I'm not alone. According to ADA, it is estimated that there are over 27 million people in United States alone that suffer from chronic halitosis. That doesn't include anyone who only suffers from it occasionally.

Educational toys for children

In last few years, parents started getting more and more interested in choosing all sorts of educational toys for their children. Because a parent wishes best for his child, a toy that is labeled as educational is very likely to be bought easier than others.

But what is an educational child toy?

Well, there is no definition of term “educational toy” from what I know. However, what I do know is that an educational toy is a toy that helps a child learn something good, something that will help in future. Play is most important activity of any child. Learning thru play is a reality; it can and it is done unknowingly every time your child plays. The parent must however control play so that it remains on an educational course.

There are also toys that aren’t exactly educational for children … Toy guns and other such toys that somehow tend to violence and other bad behaviors are not recommended. You must avoid such toys. Although these toys may be a good source of fun for youngsters, on long term they will only do harm.

How do educational child toys and games work?

A I said above, play is a child‘s main activity. During play, a child learns many new things. Toys and games must be integrated into play to make their job. This is not hard, because play consists of several games that require using toys. Any toy can be educational, as long as it does not develop a bad behavior, and it is used in your child’s play. A toy must be used in order to be educational for a child.

To be clearer about how educational child toys and games work, I will take one example: Hide and seek.

Let’s take a look at Hide and Seek. You do remember this game, right? Can you remember rules? Ok, I will still list them here, and comment on them and explain its educational side.

• The first rule is that every player must obey rules. I know, I know it's obvious, but if players would not respect rules, would there be any point for rules to exist? Every child must learn and obey them, or else they are not allowed to play game. The educational part of this is that child learns to accept fact that he cannot do everything he wants, that there are some limits and he must not pass them in order to keep his privileges.

• One of children in group is chosen to count to 100 at home tree (this helps young children learn numbers in a pleasurable way, not like in school), without peeking (this educated child to use fair play in all areas of life). Meanwhile, others must find a good hiding place, one that is both hard to discover and close to home tree. This stimulates child to think fast to best solution to a given task.