The type of play that children indulge in has changed throughout the course of history, but play has been consistent and for good reason. In addition to the physical good, play brings a myriad other benefits that are mental, emotional and practical.
Put a bunch of kids together in a room, on a ground or any space with or without toys and they will find ways to entertain themselves. They might prance around, run and catch, jump for no reason, or come up with a hopping game that other kids slowly get drawn into and participate in. Child development experts call these kinds of spontaneous, child-directed activities “free play.”
There used to be a time when free play was applicable to all kids and most indulged in free play almost every day of their lives. It could be a group playing a sport or just hanging about playing a game that had no name, but we often saw kids doing things: meeting, interacting, moving, laughing, thinking. These were not structured or curated, at least not by adults. In fact, this was a big part of every child’s life as they grew up, even up until a decade ago.
But times have not-so-slowly changed. Over the last 15-20 years technology has become more prevalent, cities have becomes more crowded, time has become a very limited resource (for adults and kids alike) and all this has squeezed unmonitored free play out of children’s lives. We have replaced free play with organised activities like sport coaching, music classes, art lessons and more.
In moderation, organised these activities instill skills and competence, boost confidence, and give parents both time to work and peace of mind that their children are being looked after. And this is important because parents are more worried than ever about the safety of their children today. In fact, the radius of free movement for a child has drastically reduced compared the years and generations before.
But child-directed play is essential to children’s emotional and intellectual development. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics 2007 report, “some play must remain entirely child driven, with parents either not present or as passive observers, because play builds some of the individual assets children need to develop and remain resilient.”
So let kids be kids. Give them the time, space and freedom to do things, make mistakes and figure things out for themselves. After all that’s what they are going to be doing for the rest of their lives. If getting them ready for the real world is what you’re after, free play does that better than most other things.
Raj Ganpath is an NCCA-accredited Personal Fitness Trainer; nutrition, barbell and kettlebell trainer and a Functional Training and Senior Fitness Specialist with over 5,000 hours of coaching experience.
