Oct. 16, 2006 - 19:06 MDT

EVEN THE EXPERTS AGREE

Recently I have been thinking back to the days of my childhood and remembering the freedom of unstructured play, not actively supervised under the eye of a vigilant adult. Remembering those pleasant times when I was at one with my world, being with my friends, doing our things. Quoting in full an article by Gayle White of Cox News Service which says perhaps I was right all the time:

STUDY SAYS PLAY VITAL TO CHILD DEVELOPMENT

"Just go play."

That's what the nation's pediatricians are telling kids -- and parents."

"Unstructured play makes kids smarter, stronger and happier," the American Academy of Pediatrics says in a report released recently at the organizations annual meeting at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta."

"Or, in doctor speak, "Play . . . is essential to the cognitive, physical, social and emotional well-being of children and youth." The pediatricians are talking about good old-fashioned dolls and blocks and swings, not high-tech toys designed for academic enrichment."

"Educational toys are good. So are piano lessons and baseball leagues, the doctors say, but in moderation. Overscheduling and overstructuring can cause stress and squeeze out out time for kids to just be kids."

"Play is central to childhood," says Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg of Philadelphia, lead author of the report, titled, "The Importance Of Play in Promoting Healthy Chilld Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-child Bonds."

"Play is essential to children being able to navigate their world." Unstructured, spontaneous group play helps kids learn to negotiate, solve conflicts, and stick up for themselves -- officially, practice "self-advocacy skills," according to the paper."

"Becky Meeks says she thinks the physicians are "right on it" with their advice."

"Her son Brody, 4, goes to pre-school three days a week, but spends much of the rest of his time climbing a rope ladder outside or creating imaginary worlds for his action figures inside."

"He's active," says Meeks. "He's allowed to let off steam." Meeks has seen the effects of a lack of play. A frw years ago, Brody's brother Travis, now 14, was in a school that had no recess period and no physical education."

"He would come home tired and grumpy," Meeks says. "He hadn't had a break all day." Some schools cut back on recess and gym classes to devote more time to reading, writing and 'rithmetic in response to pressures to impove academic performance."

"That's just one of the social changes whittling away at children's play time, says Ginsburg."

"Others cited in the report are heavy parental work schedules and a trend toward turning to television, computers and video games for entertainment."

"And some parents may feel they have failed if their children are not admitted to a prestigious pre-school, much less their first-choice college."

"Many parents seem to feel as though they are running on a treadmill to keep up, yet dare not slow their pace for fear their children will fall behind," the pediatricians paper says."

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I think there is no substitute for the meteoric play that we kids engaged in, like a stroke of lightening, the rules of the game would change, even the games would shift, and "Lets Pretend" of toddlerhood days turned into games of Cowboys and Indians or Cops and Robbers or war and ? whatever. Not without heavy discussion of who was going to be which, but finally off we'd go.

It would be so easy to say "Nyaa, nyaa, nyaa - - we knew that all the time." But can't because some of us raised our kids that way, or gave our own kids the mindset to raise theirs that way.

Much like modern medical science is beginning to give credit to some of grandma's home remedies, herbs and such, and admitting that chiropractic and acupuncture has qualities hitherto denied by the "doctors." Now the Windmillers Of The Mind allow that this is the way to go.

From personal experience I know the value of unstructured play, but it does give me a feeling of "told you so," when EVEN THE EXPERTS AGREE . . . . . . . . . . . .

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