Psychologist dispelled the myth of the harm of "beige" parenting

The trend towards "beige" decoration of children's rooms and the choice of toys in neutral shades in itself does not pose a danger to the mental development of the child. Anastasia Helemelya, a clinical psychologist and CBT therapist, told Izvestia about this on July 14.

According to the expert, color perception really plays an important role in cognitive development. Shade discrimination helps a child form semantic connections, develop speech, and learn to classify the world around them. Theoretically, if a baby saw only one color from birth, this could lead to insufficient stimulation of the visual cortex and slow down the formation of some neural connections.

However, the current trend of "beige moms" has nothing to do with sensory deprivation.

"This is an aesthetic choice of interior and wardrobe, not sensory deprivation. The child sees faces, food, the street, and other children's toys — the color world remains accessible. Pathology would be the complete exclusion of all colors, but this does not occur in real practice," explained Helemelya.

The psychologist noted that the emotional atmosphere in the family is much more important for the child's development than the color scheme of the room. According to her, the reason for concern may not be the lack of bright toys, but the increased anxiety of parents, which sometimes hides behind the desire to create the most controlled environment.

Beige Rejection: Can Neutral Shades Drive you Crazy

A psychologist and a designer explained why bright colors are important for children.

"Hypercontrol of the environment indicates a desire to "sterilize" reality, which can slow down the development of tolerance for diversity. But by itself, a neutral background in the room does not harm the psyche — live communication and tactile contact are more important," the expert emphasized.

Helemela added that color minimalism remains only a fashionable trend in the design of children's space. If a child is healthy, walks regularly, communicates with others and explores the outside world, his brain receives a sufficient number of diverse visual stimuli.

At the same time, the psychologist warned against attempts to turn parents' personal preferences into universal parenting rules.

"Color minimalism is just a fashion trend. If a child is healthy and walks outside, his brain will get enough colors anyway. The real threat is an attempt to regulate the household preferences of parents under the guise of psychological expertise," the specialist concluded.

The Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation announced on July 13 that the popular trend of "beige moms" who reject bright colors may negatively affect the child's development. The department noted that infants begin to distinguish basic colors from the 20th day of life, and stable categories are formed in parallel with speech and cognitive processes. Children who got acquainted with objects from black-and-white images often have a distorted idea of the real shades, so color accuracy is important in teaching materials.