Q: I taught preschool for 15 years and would like to remind parents that strong fine motor muscles are necessary for writing. Play dough, clay, Legos, crayons and colored pencils are examples of materials that help build muscles in the fingers. Children need to use real items to learn and cannot do this well on a computer screen. Touch screens don't help.

A: I watched a 3-year-old in an airplane seat happily busying himself with an iPad and was amazed that such a young child could remain fascinated by his touch screen for so long a time. There is no doubt that his video game is preparing his brain for the future technological world and that learning technology is important. However, your concern about fine motor muscles rings very true for me, too, because I repeatedly find that many boys have problems with writing in the early grades. Their struggle with the pencil, which I have labeled "pencil anxiety," easily gets generalized to hating written expression and avoiding completion of written assignments. Even when students are allowed or encouraged to use computers to write stories and reports, pencil anxiety has often left children with negative emotions related to expressing themselves in written language.

Further, too much engagement in video games becomes a problem with more than just writing. I have struggled with teens in my clinic that are truly obsessed with or addicted to video games. Even when they admit they are mainly wasting time, they rationalize that they are learning strategies that are helpful. The most recent high school boy I have worked with reminded me that video games reduced his stress. Escape to games may indeed reduce stress in the short run. However, the habit of avoiding homework to play hours of video games causes a great deal of stress in the long run, as F's for assignments not turned in bring what could have been good report card grades down to D's and F's. Undone or incomplete work does indeed build up stress for most children. The stress may actually be felt more by parents than students, but in the long run, students suffer.

When preschoolers entertain themselves for hours on touch screens, or for that matter, TV or computer screens, it may not look like trouble ahead, but beware, too much of anything is a dangerous thing. There is much to be learned from technology, but later addiction to screens and games can seriously complicate children's lives. Drawing, coloring, painting, writing, numbered pictures and dot-to-dot books are all fun for kids and will pay off in better schoolwork in the years ahead. Building with Legos and blocks not only helps small muscle coordination but also gives children good perceptual learning experiences. Brain growth is very rapid during the preschool years, and the brain changes through play and learning.

For free newsletters about learning from preschool play, learning disabilities, guidelines for using computers or "Growing Up Too Fast" (Rodale, 2005), send a self-addressed, stamped envelope for each newsletter to the address below. Dr. Sylvia B. Rimm is the director of the Family Achievement Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, a clinical professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and the author of many books on parenting. More information on raising kids is available at www.sylviarimm.com. Please send questions to: Sylvia B. Rimm on Raising Kids, P.O. Box 32, Watertown, WI 53094 or [email protected]. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.