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Bring Back Active Play

Bring Back Active Play
Formal education and academic achievement in today’s world I value and respect. However, the pressures, both personal and societal, are forcing parents to make their children grow up too fast. We need to bring back imaginative, active play. Educational toys which promote the use of imagination learning combined with physical activity, and good old fashion free play time. By free play time I mean time without parents, or teachers giving them lessons. The importance of imaginative active play is so great I cannot begin to impress upon you all of the benefits. Swainton Station Variety recognized this some time ago. Active, imaginative play usually brings smiles and laughter. Let our children be children.

One example is the decreasing importance placed on self-initiated play(imaginative, active play). The importance of play is recognized by the United Nations High Commissions for Human Rights as “a right of every child.” Throughout history play has had its importance. Children in primitive tribes would play hunting games to prepare them for their role in their community. Today self-directed play still has a crucial role to play in training our children to be valued members of our society.

The problem is that, in today’s society, the importance of self-initiated play is being devalued. Parents today are under too much pressure coming from all directions.

Factors that have affected our attitude towards free play:

1) Providing for the family
Economical pressure has made it necessary for both parents to have full time employment a) extended family; Grandparents, Sisters, Brothers, cousins used to all pitch in and help raise the family. Family raising, family. There has been a brake down of these family values. Children are farmed out to educational facilities at a much earlier age/ Single parents have been forced into the workforce and again their children have to be cared for in child care facilities.

Parents often drop their children off at 7:00 am, work all day and pick them up at 6:00pm. By the time parents arrive home they are often too exhausted and irritable to participate in their children’s play activities. Not to mention the time factor of dinner, homework, bath time, and bed for the proper amount of sleep.

As tough as it is parents need to find time for their child’s imaginative, active play because not only can it be fun and develop a bond but the opportunity for the child and the parent to explore important social issues in a comfortable and fun environment.

2) Expectations on Parents
All parents have a desire to see their child become successful. The early message they receive is that to be a good parent requires giving your child all the skills and aptitudes from the earliest age. It is essential, parents are told, for their child to be well balanced and high achieving from an early age. Academic success is seen as a measure of personal success. Interactive, imaginative toys: tricycles, wagons, dolls, games etc. are what helps promote a more balanced healthy child.

Parents often feel that their success as parents is measured by what they give their child.
Consumerism and the desire to be a successful parent has lead to a “keep up with the Jones’s” mentality which may place families under financial difficulty and means that parent’s down time is often spent running their children from one organized activity to another. Where and when do they get time for free imaginative, active play?

Self-directed child’s play has many benefits to the child’s development as a successful member of society.
Benefits of child-driven play:
1. Play is the training ground to teach children how to accept and work within a framework bound by norms and rules. When playing, children develop their own set of rules, boundaries and expectations. It allows children to explore concepts, break rules and suffer the consequences and learn the importance of connecting with no fear of adult reprisal or criticism.

Children learn to accept others, resolve conflicts and develop an understanding of the role relationships they play in society. Play allows children to explore new experiences and to put themselves in someone Else’s shoes,(so important to understanding different points of view).

Activating Imagination and Creativity:

Self-directed play allows the child to explore any world they wish, be in any situation they wish and come up with creative solutions to problems. Children are more likely to think outside the box when involved in play activities. Play is often one problem solving experience after another. Imaginative, active play also has the benefit of exercise. Turn off the TV, Videos, Computers and the like and bring back to active play.

3.Learning self-regulation:

a) Time spent playing make-believe actually helped children develop a critical congnitive skill called “executive function”. Executive function has a number of different elements, but a central one is the ability to self-regulate.

b) There are studies out that show the ability of children to self-regulate and control their behavior has decreased over the past 40 years. Psychologist Elena Bodrova at Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning says that these “results were very sad”. Because self-regulation is a more reliable predictor of school success that IQ tests and poor self-regulation is associated with poor behavior, drop-outs, crime and drug use.

Self-talk is an important strategy used in maintaining mental health. When playing self-talk is usually an important feature of the make-believe. They learn to organize their world through self-talk and to express their feelings without any embarrassment. This is a precursor to developing self-regulation and mentally stability in one’s life. “Unfortunately, the more structured the Play, the more children’s private speech declines. Essentially, because child’s play is so focused on lessons and leagues, and because kids ‘toys increasingly inhibit imaginative play, kids are not getting a chance to practice policing themselves.

c)When children have the opportunity to play freely the results are clear: “Self-regulation improves”.

d) Physical Development:
The physicality of play, especially with boys, allows children to burn off “excess energy” and contribute to managing behavior as well as the obvious health benefits associated with being active.

Could it be that many of the social and behavioral problems children seem to be experienced by children and adolescents would be alleviated or at least reduced by something as simple as as Allowing Children to Play without Adult interference and organization?

As children become more conditioned to organized play: sport, dance, school or computer games it may be that, rather than, encouraging development, we are suppressing itl

Bring Back Play!

References:
The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds - Kenneth R. Ginsburg, MD

Bring back Play - Deidre Thian

The Importance of Play - Deidre Thian