The Benefits of Interacting with Others during Play Time
Your kids are probably not spending much time playing outdoors with their friends. Today’s children play outdoors half as much as their parents did. Far from being a total waste of time, play allows us to fine-tune our motor skills, develop social skills and emotional resilience, and learn our limitations; play is essential for normal, healthy brain development
1 Play Makes You Smarter, Kinder, & Braver
The replacement of physical play with technological gadgetry has many experts worried, as research shows playing makes people smarter, braver, and kinder.
Science is starting to uncover the intricate connections between play and the development of compassion and empathy. Researchers are concerned that young children who do not engage in play do not get the kinds of experiences that prepare them to live effectively in an unpredictable world.
Research shows that as childhood play has declined, rates of depression and psychopathology have increased. University of Tennessee researcher Matthew Cooper, a behavioral neuroscientist, is investigating the connection between childhood play and the “ability to deal with life’s hard knocks.”
2 Play Is Crucial for the Development of Emotional Resiliency
The prefrontal cortex plays an important role in our ability to deal with and bounce back from stress.
In the school yard, play helps the child to cope with life’s ups and downs. But the way children play has changed dramatically. A generation ago, it did not take much to have fun — a piece of rope, a few twigs, a ball, a pile of dirt …
Children in the United States today spend less time outdoors than any previous generation — just 4 – 7 minutes a day of outdoor play — and 7 1/2 hours a day in front of a screen. And they are missing out on a lot more than fresh air and exercise.
We are now starting to realize the true importance of play and the ramifications of play deprivation.
Play is important for the generation of well-being. Researchers are extremely concerned about the dramatic drop-off in play. They believe the lack of play we see in today’s children is a real crisis and is at the heart of the shocking rise in mental health problems and behavioral problems among our youth.
Another remarkable and paradoxical scientific finding is that engaging in risk during childhood is a crucial factor in preventing injuries. As noted by Mariana Brussoni, a developmental psychologist at UBC/BC Children’s Hospital, by engaging in risky play, children learn how their bodies work, they discover what they’re comfortable with and what they’re not, and they learn their own limits and how the world works.
In short, “they’re learning crucial risk-management skills,” Brussoni says. Far from keeping kids safe, discouraging them from outdoor play can backfire, as play-deprived children fail to gain this fundamental knowledge, which places them at greater risk for serious injury and phobias.
In short, the research strongly shows that risky play, play where there is a chance of injury and where the paths and outcomes are not certain, is important for character-building, emotional resilience, and self-development. The sense of freedom that outdoor play brings also encourages creativity.
Parents are encouraged to weigh the possibility of an unlikely event (your child being seriously injured) against the very real impact that outdoor play deprivation may have on your child’s long-term mental and physical health and development.
And, far from being a loss of simple fun, this can have serious consequences for the health of future children, as it prevents the normal brain development necessary for empathy, compassion, and personal well-being. The answer is self-evident: Encourage your kids to play, especially outdoors. And play more yourself too, regardless of your age.
