The Importance of Play

What new and exciting technologically advanced toy did your child receive for Christmas this year? Trying to keep up with our neighbors, friends and the rest of society by getting the most up to date toy for our children is always a challenge. No matter how we try to justify these wonderful toys, “They have very educational programs” or What new and exciting technologically advanced toy did your child receive for Christmas this year? Trying to keep up with our neighbors, friends and the rest of society by getting the most up to date toy for our children is always a challenge. No matter how we try to justify these wonderful toys, “They have very educational programs” or “It keeps Johnny entertained so I can get dinner ready,” is it really best for our children? It is similar to justifying a piece of cheesecake because it had strawberries on top! Unfortunately, over the past decade or more, our society has forgotten about one very inexpensive developmental tool, free play. Children’s time has become a lot more structured at home and in the schools. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, free play is defined as “child-directed play time with no rules” and is a very important aspect in our child’s creativity, and emotional and social development. Free play is important for promoting physical activity and decreasing the incidence of childhood obesity. When children use their creativity, they are more likely to get up and move. Play is so important for a child that is recognized as a right by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights. Since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, most schools have eliminated or reduced recess to once a day along with decreasing creative arts classes to make more time for reading and math. Taking away free play time from students counteracts the goals the school has for increasing literacy. When students do not have time to play, they are less able to focus attention during class time. The high pressure of academics and extra-curricular activities has seen a dramatic increase in stress and depression of college students (American Academy of Pediatrics). After school or weekends are generally spent participating in extra-curricular activities such as organized sports, dance or music lessons. We find that the time we could use bonding with our children is spent shuttling to the next activity. By sacrificing our time to allow them to be in multiple activities we believe we are being great parents. But what we are doing is limiting our bonding time with our children and giving them less time for child-driven activities. Structured activities are great for our children as long as we limit our children’s involvement. These activities do promote group learning, teamwork and social interaction, but there is little room for creativity in these activities. I am just as guilty as the rest of society in providing high-tech toys, videos and books (we just haven’t given into the video system age) and enrolling my children in multiple extracurricular activities. We need to also make sure we give our children free time so they can direct their own play allowing their imagination and creativity to grow. Play time allows our children to interact with their environment and gives us a great insight into how they view the world. I challenge all of us during Spring Break to take the time to play with our children and let them direct the play.