Thoughtful Thursday

Is There Danger in Play or More in its Absence? Part 2

So what would bring Gray to the conclusion that the connection between a reduction in play and the increase in psychopathology is not just correlation, but actually causation? 
The first point that is made in Gray’s article is the move from intrinsic motivation to extrinsic motivation.  Free play is purely intrinsically motivated.  Children play, explore, pretend, and build because they are driven by an internal sense of wonder and interest.  Conversely, many of the organized activities that have replaced children’s free play time over the years are linked to the extrinsic motivation of rewards, praise, or recognition.  Many of the activities are chosen and directed by grown-ups and are therefore generally predicated on their goals and objectives and the child often seeks to please the adults and their external standards for performance.

When children learn to care more about the judgments of others than their own internal drive, the result is often depression from not measuring up, or anxiety from the inability to control the perceptions of others.
Among his other reasons for supporting a causal relationship, Gray points out the role that play serves in building important decision-making skills, self-control, social skills, and emotional regulation.  Rough and tumble play, for example, while it is often restricted due to fears of injury, actually builds self-control as the implicit rules of “play fighting” include the fact that you can not actually hurt the other players — your friends.  This act of going to the line while holding back, requires a great deal of self-control while also recognizing and empathizing with the needs of others.

Social Play Makes Children Happy, and Its Absence Makes Them Unhappy
Perhaps it is the last reason Gray gives for the need for play that is most compelling.  “Social play makes children happy, and its absence makes them unhappy.”  It doesn’t take a degree in psychology to recognize that if one is deprived of that which makes them most happy, they are more vulnerable to diseases of unhappiness such as anxiety and depression.

In his book, Louv suggests that many symptoms of ADHD are caused by, or at least can be effectively treated by the amount of time children spend exploring and playing in nature.

In his conclusion, Peter Gray sums up our misdirected concern for our children:
“Somehow, as a society, we have come to the conclusion that to protect children from danger and to educate them, we must deprive them of the very activity that makes them happiest and place them for ever more hours in settings where they are more or less continually directed and evaluated by adults, settings almost designed to produce anxiety and depression. If we wish children to be happy and to grow up to become socially and emotionally fulfilled and competent adults, we must provide them, once again, with opportunities to spend many hours per day playing freely with friends.”

Certainly there is a place for an adequate amount of safety regulation.  Likewise, there is arguably a need for some degree of structure and adult direction.  But the theory that “if a little is good, a lot is better” is usually false, and no where does that seem to be more true than in the case of these “good things” that tend to push play from its prominent position in childhood.

We have to remember not to inadvertently trade these good things for the things that are best of all.

Posted by Angélica Pérez-Litwin in HOME LIFE, Parenting
Contributing Author - Amanda Morgan

Thoughtful Thursday

Is There Danger in Play or More in its Absence? Part 1

As parents and caregivers, the safety of our children is our highest priority.  We ask them to wear their helmets while biking, to look before they leap, and we remind them again and again of the proper procedures for crossing the street.  We want them to be safe.  That’s reasonable and responsible.  But, as it is easy to do, we sometimes go a bit overboard on our efforts to protect our children.  In the long run, some of our efforts can backfire.

Can A Playground Be Too Safe?

A piece in the New York Times, entitled, “Can a Playground Be Too Safe?”,  the author notes that the tall slides and adventurous climbing structures of our own childhood playgrounds have been replace by tamer, assumably more lawsuit-proof equipment.  While anyone with memories of asphalt-gnarled elbows or sunny-slide-burned thighs might be grateful for the progress, some researchers question if we’ve taken our safety measures too far, removing the opportunity for valuable play experiences.

Author of Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv, cites that many parents keep children away from playing and exploring outdoors because they’re afraid of kidnappers, serial killers, and other crazies and kooks.  Unfortunately, too many children are harmed by adults, but the majority of those incidents involve family members, not strangers.  In fact, while our 24-hour news cycle makes us aware of every misdeed around the world, the truth of the matter is that, according to crime statistics, it’s actually safer for children to play outside than it was during many of our own childhoods.

Play Spaces and Play Time Are Slowly Disappearing:  At What Cost?

Between our fear of strangers and injuries, our acceptance of push-down academic goals, and our society’s penchant for litigation, play spaces and play time are slowly disappearing from the lives of many children.  What is the cost of this trend?

In The American Journal of Play, research professor and prolific writer, Peter Gray compares research showing that the decrease of play in America seems to correlate with an increase of anxiety, depression, and other types of psychopathology.  It’s a connection that Gray strengthens with decades worth of research.

While research shows that child-led play is being replaced by school work, TV and computer time, and organized sports activities, concurrent studies also show an increase in psychopathology in children and adolescents.  These mental ills include things like anxiety, depression, and even narcissism.  While checking for other causes of psychopathology, this research found that American children are actually more anxious now than they were during the Great Depression, World War II, and the cold war.

Posted by Angélica Pérez-Litwin in HOME LIFE, Parenting
Contributing Author - Amanda Morgan

Thoughtful Thursday

Below is a GREAT article written by Amanda Morgan on the value of play and its role in academics. It's a little long but it;s well worth the read.

Play vs Academics: A False Dichotomy

An argument is brewing in the preschool scene. In one corner, you have those arguing for more academics to give children that head start that might correct the troubles of high-school drop-outs and low test scores. They claim that children rise to the occasion and show that they are capable of more than we’ve been asking.
In the other corner, you’ll find those who say play is disappearing from the cultural landscape of America and that its absence is a contributor to many childhood maladies such as obesity, ADHD, and declining social skills. They say that children “rising to the occasion” are really only performing splinter skills, which are more closely aligned with party tricks than with actual learning.
Certainly, both camps can make compelling arguments. But each time I read an article giving voice to the two sides, I find myself thinking: these aren’t mutually exclusive points of view. The notion that a child’s education can either be playful or academic seems to be creating an unfortunate and false dichotomy.
It seems to me that setting play and academics at odds with each other is pitting the method against the goal. It’s not an either/or choice, it’s a means and an end.
The term “academic” has come to mean “formal, direct instruction”, and in that sense, the two modes are different. But when “academic” is viewed as scholarly and giving rise to study and learning, it easily goes hand in hand with a play-based education structure.
To be sure, often the two camps are really at odds over what expectations are developmentally appropriate. But if we’re talking about developmentally appropriate learning outcomes, truly, academics can be taught and learned through a play-based curriculum. In fact, in many ways, I believe that the format of play and experience can teach and prepare young children for concepts that are more advanced than could be taught in a formal, conventional way. Here’s an example.
You would (hopefully) never consider plopping a multiplication worksheet down in front of a preschooler, followed by an explanation of the basic principles and procedures of algebra. However, I know a phenomenal preschool teacher who recently gave her students a similar challenge, but in an authentic, playful way.
As this teacher sat down to snack with a group of her students, she noted that there were five people at the table and each person could have 3 crackers. She then asked the children at the table how many crackers she should put on the plate to serve. One child enthusiastically answered, “Three!” So the teacher placed three crackers on the plate and set it on the table. The children looked around at five hungry faces, trying to figure out where they went wrong. As the gears turned in their minds, one child suddenly shouted, “Fifteen! We need fifteen!” Not bad for a “non-academic” school.
A quality play-based learning environment is not just a glorified birthday party. Each activity, each nook and cranny, and every loose part is arranged and made available with specific developmental objectives in mind. Ask a teacher and he or she will be able to tell you, “That builds fine motor skills for writing. That promotes sorting, which is the basis of the set theory of mathematics. This will help with phonological awareness, which leads to literacy. Here we invite creativity and problem-solving while over there they are using their language and interpersonal skills.”
It’s those foundational experiences that allow children to learn advanced concepts more easily and more thoroughly. I worry that in our effort to get ahead in education, we’re simply skipping these foundational pieces so often learned through play. It’s like being in a rush to construct a tall building, so we decide to forget about the foundation (nobody really sees that anyway) and jump right to the first floor. It might look OK at first, but eventually we get to the second or third floor and suddenly we realize that things aren’t solid, and we find ourselves slipping. I really think many of the academic problems we see in primary grades are not because the children didn’t start formal instruction early enough, but because they don’t have enough foundational experience for that formal instruction to make any lasting connections.
I guess what bothers me most is that setting play and academics at odds with each other often implies that one is for feel-good fun and the other is for real learning. That one is just daycare and the other is school. In reality, a play-based education is not only more responsive and developmentally appropriate for young children, but it also teaches them not only how to answer, but how to think. Not just to recite, but to inquire. Not simply to complete worksheets, but to build connections. Academic content isn’t just taught, it’s meaningfully constructed.

Thoughtful Thursday

Want to Give Your Kids an Advantage? Build Executive Functions

Every parent wants their kids to have the best shot at succeeding at whatever their chosen path may be.  So we try to give them all of the right opportunities.  Some go to tutors, buy complicated programs, or drill through flashcards, but one of the best predictors of success is one that can be regularly built through play.

Study after study has displayed the influential role of executive functions in success over the long run.  Perhaps the most well-known is what is commonly referred to as the Marshmallow Test.  Back in the 60s,  Stanford researchers essentially gave preschoolers the choice of having one marshmallow now or two marshmallows later.  (And did I mention these little ones were left alone with the marshmallows until “later” arrived?)

Researchers followed their subjects for decades and found that those preschoolers who could wait longer, did better academically, reported less drug-use, and found greater life satisfaction into adulthood.
It makes sense that efficient executive functions would be a strong predictor of other successes.  Executive functions, those functions of the prefrontal cortex, include impulse-control, judgement, focus, and flexible thinking. Children with these strengths will listen in class when there are distractions, will take the time to look for right answers beyond first-glance answers, and will get their school work done when they’d rather be playing video games.  They’re better able to take their other talents and strengths, build on them, apply them intentionally, and use them in working toward their goals.

The good news is that many researchers believe that these self-regulation skills can be increased through practice and experience.  Perhaps the better news is that this often takes the shape of play!  Here are some ideas for fun ways to build executive functions:

Play

Dance and Freeze.  You know the drill.  The music plays and everyone dances.  The music stops and everyone freezes.  Children have to resist the impulse to keep moving and stay frozen instead.  The same idea can be used for other stop and go games like Red Light, Green Light and Snowmen at Night or for using stop and go signs while singing.
Simon Says.  It seems easy enough.  Do what you’re told, right?  Except that you have to focus and pay attention to detail.  Instead of being distracted by the directions alone, children have to listen for that key phrase, “Simon Says”…
Opposite Games.  I love playing these with young children.  Often, I’ll say, “Listen to my directions and do what I say, but don’t let me trick you with what I do.”  So I’ll say, “Touch your nose,”while I touch my ears.  Can they fight the urge and focus only on my words?  It’s tough for those little ones, but they get better with practice!  Similar games have been played where children say the opposite of what they see on picture cards (night for day, day for night) or do opposite actions (x whenever the adult does y and y whenever the adult does x).  These games require kids to focus on what’s important and resist what is likely their first impulse.
Play Pretend.  Dramatic play is full of benefits for young children, not least of which is the flexibility of thinking and self-control required for a child to take on another character and play out the role.  Even better, as young children build their play scripts with other children, they begin to negotiate and share ideas and build a plan for play — the next avenue in building executive functions.

Are you providibng opportunities for your children to build their executive finctions???

Taken from Not Just Cute

Thoughtful Thursday

The Benefits of Play
A great article on play. Taken from Willow Creek Pediatrics

It has been said that play is a child’s work.  While play has been around since the dawn of time, the science of play is relatively new.  What some may consider to be only a frivolous pastime for children has, over the last century, been uncovered as a powerful tool for learning, a key to creativity and innovation, and, some would argue, a biological necessity akin to sleep. Researchers, like Dr. Stuart Brown of the National Institute for Play, assert that play is more than just good fun, and even more than a way to practice and imitate skills for the future.  Play, they submit, is a necessary component to healthy human development.  It helps build emotional regulation, appropriate risk-taking behaviors, abstract thinking, curiosity, and resiliency.  Incorporating neuroscience, they have found that play “lights up the brain” and builds intelligence in a truly unique way. And yet, while the science of play is gaining ground, the actual occurrence of play seems to be diminishing in our culture. As this article in the New York Times  stated, “The average 3 year-old can pick up an iPhone and expertly scroll through the menu of apps, but how many 7 year-olds can organize a kickball game with the neighborhood kids?”

What innovative entities are beginning to recognize is that a culture of playfulness engenders divergent thinking, problem-solving, and the ability to create “something from nothing”. People who are good “players” tend to be more creative, resourceful, and in many instances, it helps people do their jobs better and enjoy them more when there is an element of play. By nature, children seem to be good players. They immediately ask, “What is that and what else can I do with it?”, they see new perspectives through role-play, and effortlessly engage others in a common cause (whether that’s building a fort, storming a castle, or a good old-fashioned game of Red Rover).

So how can child’s play be in danger? What comes so easily by nature can easily be lost to a lack of nurture. Some blame the emphasis on academic achievement which, while the two don’t have to be mutually exclusive, appears to be pushing play from preschools and recess from school schedules. Others cite the fast pace of American culture, moving adults and children alike from one scheduled event to the next. Personalities also play a role as some parents and teachers may be more or less comfortable with relinquishing control and allowing children room to play. Play can be chaotic and messy. It’s often much easier, faster, and cleaner to turn to technology and flip on the TV or start up a video game. But when children are allowed to be bored, they learn to take initiative, show leadership, organize, and problem solve as they decide how, with what, and with whom they will play. They think outside of the box and create something to do when it seems there is nothing.

And, Dr. Stuart Brown contends, play is not just for children. Humans are biologically designed to play --- for a lifetime. Benefits extend into adulthood and include mental flexibility, stress release, and just plain happiness.

So find time for you and your children to play --- together and on your own. We can all reap the benefits!

Thoughtful Thursday

Advocating Play

“The growing allocation of kindergarten time to academic content has firmly pushed play to the edges. What counts as play in many classrooms are highly controlled centers that focus on particular content labeled as ‘choice’ but that are really directed at capturing a specific content-based learning experience, such as number bingo or retelling a story exactly as the teacher told it o n a flannel board….It means that in-depth project work that involves research into child-initiated questions just takes too much time….”

“What’s lost with this shift?  Attention to anything but clearly defined cognitive aspects of development….”

“…It’s no longer enough to argue that play is the work of children; we’re now required to prove what children get from play.  What they get must translate to increased achievement or reduced risk.  So let’s nail the evidence base.”

“Are We Paving the Paradise: In our rush to promote achievement, we’ve forgotten how 5 year olds really learn,” by Elizabeth Grauein; Education Leadership (April 2011)