More play, less work
Filed Under Tips & Tricks | January 21, 2008
The daily grind of parenting – keeping everyone clean, fed, dry, and just getting them out the door – can be so time consuming that there never seems to be any time left for the fun stuff, like play. We asked Sharon Selby, a local child counsellor, and the brains behind the Phonics Wizard, about the importance of play, and how we can do more of it with our kids.
Play is important for promoting healthy child development and maintaining strong parent-child bonds. For some children too much screen-time and an over-scheduled lifestyle are reducing the chance for creative play. And child-centered play, where your tot directs you and you neither teach, nor give ideas, but just follow their lead, is important for many reasons. Here are the top ten:
- Play builds emotional competence and resilience.
- Pediatricians recommend that all children have the opportunity for ample free time to be creative, reflective, relax, and explore.
- Parent-child bonding occurs during down-time, just talking, doing a hobby or art project, or being fully engaged in child-centered play.
- The interactions which happen during parent-child play, tell children that they have their parents full attention, and promote a strong parent-child relationship.
- Play is a child’s natural mode of communication. Children often express their views, experiences, and feelings through play,
- Younger children learn better social skills by playing with an adult.
- Play is important to healthy brain development. Play involves the child’s physical, mental, and emotional self in creative expression.
- Play gives children the opportunity to create and explore a world they can have control over, helping to overcoming their fears. As they master their play-world, children develop confidence and build new competencies.
- Play offers children a medium for organizing their experiences, and may be one of the few times that children feel control in their lives, and thus more secure.
- Child-centered play provides parents with a greater understanding of their children’s perspective on life.
Why not take this opportunity to make a late New Years resolution and resolve to play a little more, and cook or clean just a little bit less? For more information on the benefits of child-centered play, google “filial therapy”.
Sharon Selby, B.Ed., M.A., is a local child counsellor. She is passionate about the positive relationship between mastering reading and increased self-esteem. She is the author of The Phonics Wizard Reading Series: a learn-to-read program for parents to teach their own children early literacy skills for ages 2-7.
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