Many parents believe that kids need lots of great toys and enriching classes to encourage brain development and success later in life. However, a study of child’s play published by Howard Chudacoff, a cultural historian at Brown University, shows how changes in the ways children play today correlate with lower levels of self-control and self-regulation.
How Play Influences Child Development
Play is the work of childhood. Play is the primary way children learn about, explore, integrate and create in the world. It’s not just a way for kids to fill time while caregivers do other things, but is an important and worthwhile occupation in its own right. Children play in ways that use and develop their emerging skills, with different types of play appearing at different developmental stages.
What Chudacoff found is that play has also changed over time, with children today having much less time and space available for complex imaginative play – play that uses non-representational objects as props and is freely created and driven by children.
Complex Imaginative Play and Self Regulation
What researchers are now finding is that old-fashioned play, in which a group of neighbourhood kids played cowboys and Indians with sticks and bandannas or sailed the high seas in a cardboard box, actually helped develop their brains’ executive functions, especially the ability to self-regulate.
Self-regulation includes the ability to control impulses and behavior, manage emotions and show self-control, and experiments at the Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning show that today’s kids have less ability to self-regulate than they did 70 years ago.
The Dangers of Over-Scheduling, Complex Toys and Early Academics
The implications of this research are challenging for today’s parents. In order for children to engage in complex imaginative play, they need long periods of free time, maybe a few handy playmates and not much else to do.
Today’s kids often find themselves in exactly the opposite scenario: not much free time, no other kids calling from the street and lots of attractive video games and flashy toys to play with. Taking a step back and engaging in slow parenting or letting your kids be a little more free-range can feel risky, but the benefits of better self-regulation are more likely than the statistically small risk of abduction.
An Ideal Early Childhood Education
In many kindergarten and preschool classrooms, children are being pushed away from free play time and towards academics at earlier ages. However, the benefits of early academic drilling do not weigh up against the risks associated with too little time and space for free, creative, open-ended play. The ideal early childhood education should provide ample playtime for young children, with mostly neutral toys that require imagination in order to come to life, not batteries.
Want to help children develp better self-control, help them manage their emotions and develop their creativity? Look beyond enrichment classes, educational DVDs for babies and toys that blink and sing. Simple toys, lots of time to play indoors and out, and the opportunity to work things out for themselves all help kids develop the ability to self-regulate and make good decisions.
References:
King's Psychology Network. "The Importance of Childhood Play" (accessed September 15, 2010).
Spiegel, Alex. "Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills" Npr.org (accessed September 15, 2010).
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