Some of the most memorable moments from my childhood: Damming the creek behind Mike’s house. Playing King of the Tree (exactly what it sounds like) at Todd’s. Exploring the woods in my own backyard.
I have always known that I learned far more about the world pursuing these undirected, spontaneous pleasures than I ever learned at the soccer or baseball practices I can now barely remember.
Turns out, recent studies support the idea that this kind of free play is crucial for the development of young minds. According to an article the January edition of Scientific American, “Free, imaginative play is crucial for normal social, emotional and cognitive development. It makes us better adjusted, smarter and less stressed.”
While some may argue that organized sports and other such structured activities are still play, Anthony Pelligrini, educational psychologist at the University of Minnesota, explains,
“games have a priori rules—set up in advance and followed. Play, on the other hand, does not have a priori rules, so it affords more creative responses.”
This creative aspect is key because it challenges the developing brain more than following predetermined rules does. In free play, kids use their imagination and try out new activities and roles.
So, while Mike’s upstream neighbors might still be mad at us for flooding their lawns, and Todd’s mom might still be upset about the broken limbs (on the tree and her son), it seems we were just nurturing our developing psyches.
(via Kottke)
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Can anyone else say “duh”? This is something people have been saying since the ’80s fad of creating “super-achiever children” (of which I was nearly one, had I not resisted so very very willfully).
Routine and structure are great for kids, but they need to be able to fill in the details. I’ve always been a very firm believer in letting kids get bored. Unfortunately, I’m seeing that as being less and less possible in this age of computer games and TV.
Read Richard Louv’s “Last Child in the Woods”. But, don’t point at computer games and TVs as the problem. It is more complex than that, and new technologies have a place in our children’s development.
Now all I need is a time machine so I can take back this article to my parents for when we got into trouble as kids building clubhouses in the woods, making homemade roadblocks between the light posts on either side of the street, and making a game out of throwing an entire bag of charcoal over the fence and into my neighbors swimming pool. See, we weren’t being bad – we were developing our creative skills.
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