Why do Children like to play? And what are they missing now?

 

Why do Children like to play? And what are they missing now?

The great outdoor site - a place where flowers are blooming, birds chirping and children playing.

It's the end of the day, and you're exhausted, but it's sleepover night, and the kids are still running around in circles chasing their invisible tails. You may wonder: Why are they still playing? How do they still have energy?

Pablo Neruda once wrote, “A child who does not play is not a child.”

Even Psychologists and philosophers have been pondering the reason children play. Psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud says— Play is a catharsis that allows children to express their feelings and dispel negative emotions to replace them with positive ones. Cognitive theories of Jean Piaget believed that children use their current mental abilities and imagination to solve problems via play because they can pretend the world is different from the way it really is. Vygotsky believed play develops cognitive powers and encourages abstract thought.

Children explore different style of play as they develop cognitively.

Ø Unoccupied play is the most basic type of play: Let child be completely free to think, move, and imagine. The entire world is new, so when you’re thinking about playtime, don’t worry about organizing anything. Give them time to explore.

Ø Independent Play is when your child plays alone, with little to no reference to what other kids or adults are doing. If they get this type of play through finding sticks on a walk, or reading a book quietly, that’s totally up to them.

Ø Onlooker Play is when your child observes the play of other children, while not actually playing themselves. Though this play stage is inactive, but it’s still significant. The ability to play with other kids is crucial to getting along in school and beyond. This is your baby’s first stop in learning.

Ø  Parallel Play - Toys that can be shared easily. It is ideal, as this period is often fraught with toddler breakdowns over “MINE, not THEIRS.”

Ø Associative Play - Here, your child plays with other children, but the kids do not organize their play toward a common goal. Around age 3, kids generally become more capable of handling small toys. It is a great time to introduce more art supplies to your child’s playroom with sensory enhancement.

Ø Cooperative Play - Here you can see the beginning of teamwork. Your kid plays with others for a common purpose. In terms of play goals, this is the final developmental stage, because it’s the same basic principle whether you’re doing a school project, putting on a play, or playing a sport. A child who can engage in cooperative play can handle a classroom. Interacting, socializing, and communicating sets the stage for social success throughout life.

More and more parents are conscious of the downsides of a generation that’s allowed too little time to play. And paediatricians are now actively recommending play as an essential component of healthy brain development. As play declines, children have fewer opportunities to socialize and learn how to relate to the world around them. Some say they're becoming less empathetic and more narcissistic. One study showed that U.S. children in 2011 scored 85 percent lower on a creativity test than they did in 1984. Another showed that children in Britain were physically weaker than a decade earlier because of inactive lifestyles. Unfortunately, telling your children to "go play outside" to get them out of your hair isn't such an easy sell these days. Not with all those smart phones, TV sets and video game consoles lying around the house.

Every child is unique and has his or her own temperament and learning style. Play brings uniqueness into each new experience and takes an active role in the process of learning through their engagement. Children interact with Parents, peers, teachers, materials and the environment and relate each new piece of information to their already existing view of the world. These relationships are the basis of learning and as children explore and discover more about the world, these relationships become more refined and sophisticated.

Inserting more play opportunities by integrating outdoor sports like hopscotch, Hide- n- Seek, Kho Kho, as a daily habit is recommended. Family play like Simon says, Scrabble or Pictionary are some great ideas and milestones in a child’s development. These ideas may be part of the key to reviving interest among kids in free play. Ensuring that there’s unstructured time to explore is vital to your child’s development, as well as to building a unique parent-child relationship.

By

Mona Shah

Occupational Therapist , Clinical Psychologist