Guest Post by Shalom K.
Introduction
Play is a crucial part of any child’s growth and development. It is a means for them to explore new things, learn, and develop. Your child learns to depend on their capabilities, building their self-worth and self-esteem. Having raised my kids full time and homeschooling them, I have had to come up with strategies that will help them engage in play and learning. Before we get to the strategy, let’s first understand what free play is and why it’s so essential for kids.
Play is important throughout the lifespan. It’s a powerful form of learning and source of wellbeing that both children and adults need to thrive.
What is Free Play?
Free play is any unstructured, voluntary, child-initiated activity that lets kids develop their imagination while exploring their environs. It is the spontaneous play that is born from a child’s curiosity, enthusiasm, and love of discovery. It can include playing with dolls, blocks, crayons, clay, paper, and so on: anything that allows free, creative play. Outdoor play is the best form of free play. When kids are outside, they explore different things in nature and discover bugs they would have otherwise missed if they spent all their time in the house.
Also, outdoors give your child more space for all kinds of activities. They can run around, climb trees, and use their imagination without limit as they discover new games and come up with ideas. This is something they cannot get from video games and screen time.
Why is play important?
As mentioned before, play is an essential part of a child’s development. It has a lot of benefits which include:
1. It promotes personal social and emotional development
Through play, children explore and learn about the world and society they live in. They come up with experiences that can help them understand how society works and how to interact with others. For instance, role-play and pretend puts a child in different situations as they imagine how it would be like being a teacher, mother, doctor, or taking their pets to the vet. They learn how to interact with others, express their feelings and emotions, as well as understand other people’s perspectives. This teaches them respect and empathy.
2. It promotes healthy cognitive and physical development
Play involves a lot of body movement. Your child is forced to use different parts of their body, which engages different muscles. This develops your child’s strength, flexibility, and fine and gross motor skills. It is also a great form of exercise so they can maintain a healthy weight.
3. It enhances a child’s language skills and understanding of other cultures
Kids learn from their peers, and by playing and communicating together, they teach each other words and phrases. These simple words and phrases are the first step to practicing their language skills and understanding words and their meaning. As they explore different scenarios and the vocabulary used, they learn new words and the rules of conversation, such as when to speak, listen, and when to respond.
Consequences of Play Deprivation
The absence of play or the progressive reduction of the opportunity for free play can have adverse effects on a child and society. This can be due to several reasons.
For starters, the decrease of play affects the physical, mental, and social development of children. Research has shown a correlation between the reduction of free play and a rise in cases of depression, anxiety, suicide, and narcissism in children and, eventually, teens and adults. Children who don’t engage in free play fail to develop socially. They fail to learn social and conversational cues, which can often lead them to be withdrawn, moody, and antisocial.
Lack of play makes kids prone to poor physical health. This has led to an increase in diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Even with the inclusion of physical education classes in school, it is not enough to curb this growing pandemic. Research has shown that evolved patterns of play help children develop stronger bones and muscles. It promotes cardiovascular fitness, all of which can help reduce cases of child obesity.
Play deprivation has another disadvantage; it breeds helicopter parents. Free play is about kids using their instincts to respond to situations as they play, whether by themselves or with others. However, helicopter parents don’t give their kids this opportunity. Instead, they want to orchestrate how kids, especially infants, should play instead of leaving them free. This teaches kids to suppress their imagination and ideas during play as they try to please their parents and meet the set expectations.
Obstacles to getting kids outside to play and practical tips to overcome them
As a stay at home mom, I’ve been lucky to raise my kids full time, work from home, and home school my kids. While this is every parent’s dream, it has its challenges. For us, play was one of them, and these are the main obstacles and how we overcame them.
1. Technology
When you work from home, there is only so much you can accomplish when your kids are running around seeking your attention. With deadlines around the corner, the best option was often giving them a gadget to occupy them as I got my work done. With time, they started demanding more screen time and throwing tantrums if I said no. It was chaotic.
According to research, kids spend at least four hours and thirty-six minutes of their day looking at a screen. This has raised the rate of obesity, negatively affected sleep, and delayed language, cognitive, and social-emotional development.
Reducing screen time was not easy, but it was necessary. Because the kids were already used to it, the process had to be gradual. I started by removing the TV from their room and switching it off during meals. As we ate, we decided on which programs we would watch and for how long. I also decreased my screen time and even went for three months without social media. Eventually, my kids were able to manage two hours of screen time without me.
2. Fear about child safety
Like every other parent, my kid’s safety is a priority. Even when I want them to engage in free play, I have to be sure that they are safe first. With the dangers that surround kids today, I always wanted to keep a keen eye on them. Strangers could harm them, they could run off to the street, encounter poisonous animals and pets, among other dangers.
Part of my fear was because we had just moved to a new neighborhood. To solve this, I made friends with two moms in the region who were open to having their kids play with my girls. When I was busy, there were happy to fill in for me and watch the kids, and when they needed mom time, I was glad to watch the kids.
3. Not enough time
Free play takes time, and for it to be fun, you can’t rush it. When you home school your kids, however, you have to set the schedules, know when kids need to be learning, plan meals, chores, and still get your work done. It’s a lot to do in a day, and sadly play tends to take a back seat.
Collaborating with other families cannot fill up all the time kids have to play and explore. I had to intentionally create time to watch them, especially during the summer holidays and weekends. It took a shift in my schedule, but after moving a few things around, I found I have more than enough time to join them and watch them play.
4. Creating a mess
Let’s not get started on the amount of cleaning that’s involved. A simple painting game can turn into painting the walls, washing the brushes, and washing the bathroom because it’s full of paint. And since kids will be kids, they won’t do any of it right. Instead, the mess will spread to the whole house as they run to show you how well they cleaned.
Instead of getting worked up, I accepted that making a mess was part of learning, exploring, and having fun. I moved bath time a little so the girls can hop into the bath immediately after playing. I also designated a play area for them so they could have fun without me worrying about painted walls. I usually tell them when it’s time to move to the next activity, so they are ready to move on. I’ve also made tidying up part of the process, which has made the girls more receptive to cleaning up after themselves. They don’t always do it perfectly, but the effort is appreciated.
Conclusion
Generally, children are highly motivated to play. They want to know more about the world, but they need to be in a safe environment that allows them to explore all these concepts freely. Most physical and cognitive learning comes through play, and given plenty of time, a child’s free play can grow in complexity exponentially.
Shalom is a full-time mother home educating her two children. Shalom and her family live an alternative, green, ethical lifestyle. Before becoming a parent, Shalom taught Sociology and Digital Marketing at a college level. You can find more of her writing here.
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