Today’s parents seem to be under the impression that good parenting means preparing your children optimally for the rigors of excelling in the working world and achieving the most they can. Most parents are fulfilling this goal by not only helping their kids do well in school, but also by exposing them to various after-school and summer-long organized activities. As a result, often lost is the time for a child to just play.
Between commuting to and from activities, there is little time left in the day for kids to just go outside or in their room and find ways to entertain themselves, either with friends, family or alone. However, unstructured play turns out to be vitally important to kids’ development.
Why has play gotten squeezed out? The cultural shift related to a desire to raise successful kids has driven parents to place children in a lot of structured sports, and music, art, writing and science classes. It’s true that exposing kids to different areas of possible interest — like through participation in structured activities — may help them find a passion. But when they’re spread too thin, they have no room to develop that passion.
[Read: Is Your Child Getting Enough Real Downtime?]
Many families now have two working parents, leaving no one around to supervise a child. Often kids are placed in classes to serve as a stand in for child care, with the structured time led by an adult being seen as better than no supervision at all.
The competition for placement at colleges has increased pressure on schools and ramped up parents’ and kids’ anxieties about performing in outstanding ways to distinguish themselves and win a competitive spot. This is driving everything from parents hiring tutors to help kids excel academically to children prepping for standardized tests to involvement in more extracurricular activities, so a child might stand out.
Meanwhile exhausted kids are engaging in more passive entertainment, and things like watching TV and playing video games are edging out playtime. Some families may live in areas or neighborhoods where it feels unsafe to let their kids just go outside to play, and as rates of violence increase, this will only become worse with time.
What are the benefits of play? One of the most important predictors of life success is creativity, and unstructured play is a huge driver of developing creativity. Using your imagination, and acting out fantasy stories where you solve problems, innovate fun adventures and become immersed in a world of your choosing with problems you need to solve are all part and parcel of creativity.
Another valuable developmental ability derived from play is working with others. By negotiating play with friends, a child learns about compromise, about being a leader and sometimes allowing others to lead, about collaboration or a common goal, and resilience in the face of things not working out. Playing with others can be frustrating, but developing a tolerance for this kind of frustration is extremely important.
[Read: Kids Need a Bigger Dose of Nature.]
When a child plays with a parent, that can grow their relationship, bringing them closer by sharing fun and fantastical thoughts. Play can be very therapeutic, too, allowing a less verbal child to have a means of expressing emotions and sharing struggles and a way to play them out. It may even be a way for a child to let a parent or friend know what the child is feeling without directly saying so and to feel supported.
Physical play is valuable for the development of coordination, dexterity and to relieve stress and anxiety. Exercise helps improve mood and lower anxiety for kids just as it does for adults. Physical play allows children to feel good and happy in their bodies without being rated or scored or needing to meet an expectation.
So what can you do as a parent to encourage unstructured play? Take a look at your child’s summer schedule. Are they fairly structured from morning until night? Consider dropping an activity or two. Limit how much free time can be spent on screen time. Instead tell them to go out, or go in and just play.
Leave them basic tools for play, but not kits that predetermine what they can do. Blocks, markers and paper, Popsicle sticks and glue — these are basic toys that allow children to problem-solve and innovate with their play.
Being outside is great, as long as it is safe with reasonable supervision, to use nature as their basic toy and come up with their own creative play. Allow time for play with peers, playtime with you and playtime alone. Each of these have different benefits.
[Read: A Family Guide for Surviving the Summer.]
Summer is a special time to make room for play, because without school, there really is more time. It also provides the opportunity your child needs to recharge before the next school year. Kids need play to de-stress. When they’re not able to recharge, children can become burned out, leaving them unable to enjoy or benefit from their school year. Give kids the unstructured space they need to see how fun life can be.
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The Importance of Unstructured Summer Playtime for Children originally appeared on usnews.com
