Did you know that April 16th was “National Wear Your Pajamas To Work” day? Now doesn’t that sound like fun? I doubt whether anyone actually did that, but it brought a topic to mind that we need to look at. And that topic is just plain FUN!
What would have been so wrong with wearing pajamas to work? They’re probably a lot more comfortable than what we usually wear. Sadly, society today has put a different “slant” on how we look at play.
In the grownup world we call it “down-time” or “leisure” or “discretionary activities.” Kids just call it playing. Parent educators have always known play is important to children’s development, but trends in society don’t always support this knowledge. For some time now, it’s been fashionable to provide our children with so many enrichment activities, they no longer have adequate time to just hang out and play.
Why is play so important? It produces children who are happier, stronger, smarter and better adjusted. Psychologists and pediatricians agree that play is critical to children’s cognitive, social, and physical development. By play we’re talking about blocks, dolls, puppet shows, swings, sandboxes, games like tag, Ring-around-the-Rosy, and Hide & Seek. In short, old-fashioned play.
A lot of thought and attention goes into figuring out how best to help children learn important social skills like cooperating with others, identifying feelings, and solving problems. What fun it is, then, to read about research that recommends freestyle group play among children as a way to practice negotiating disagreements, solving conflicts, and sticking up for themselves. Is it as easy as play? Yes and no. Such social skills do come easily to some children, but to others, it’s less intuitive and more of a learned skill. The happy part is that unstructured play is good for kids and helps them learn these important life skills. I say let’s break out the lemonade and toast the good researchers (American Academy of Pediatrics) who have confirmed what wise parents have known all along: play is a necessary part of childhood and it wouldn’t hurt a few of us adults to remember this too.
(adapted from Parenting Press, 2007)