babble » blogs » Strollerderby
Strollerderby
“A child craves magic…and magic depends on having space where adults will not “butt in.” This includes literal space of the kind long gone from nearly every urban part of this country, like vacant lots and construction sites (not like playgrounds, which reek of adult intentionality), and also metaphorical space.”
So says Christina Schwarz in the most recent issue of The Atlantic, where she looks at childhood through two books examining the way we raise our children. One is a reissued classic, the other a historical analysis of our attitude towards play. Both, Schwarz says, bring her to the same conclusion: we have returned to an age where play for its own sake has lost its perceived value, and our kids are losing out big time.
Child's play boosts development
Parenting has rounded up some of the research showing how play makes babies smarter, better socialized and more competent at everything ranging from sports to schoolwork. Drawing on the work of Einstein Never Used Flashcards, they’ve come up with 10 reasons to let babies play.
Play helps develop intellect. It boosts social development. Kids who play on their own have better impulse control and concentration. In other words, they are better poised to become strong students than those who miss out on unstructured play in early childhood.
Helping kids get healthy play time is one of the easiest things you can do as a parent. Perhaps best of all, once you’ve set their playtime in motion, you can have a little time to yourself. Time you can spend doing your own thing. Play matters for grown-ups, too!
Play helps kids learn.
In a column at CNN.com, two Harvard educators make a case for play-based education. Their case is simple: favoring free play in preschool over early academic training will give kids an edge academically.
Erika and Nicholas Christakis have taught kids ranging from preschoolers to Harvard undergrads. They know what they’re talking about. And what they see are college students who can’t thrive in a rigorous academic environment because they haven’t had enough playtime.
These kids fidget. They don’t know how to share, and dominate otherwise good conversations. They can’t control their impulses. These are all skills learned through play-based education, that these students are missing out on.
A play-based curriculum for preschoolers, and even for older kids, lets them learn the social skills that essential to support deep academic learning at the college level. Without the ability to play, the ability to learn becomes hampered.
The New York Times ran a depressing op-ed over the weekend arguing that kids’ lives have changed to the point where they really need recess coaches to teach them how to play with each other.
The article focuses on the lost culture of childhood , the oral traditions of games, rhymes and superstitions that kids have been passing on to each other for hundreds of years. That culture, which includes nursery rhymes, hopscotch and warnings like “step on a crack, break your mother’s back” has basically disappeared over the course of a generation.
The treehouse Brenk Johnson built with his two little boys will have to be torn down because city officials consider it an “accessory building.”
The Johnsons’ neighbor narked on them after Brenk decided to build the treehouse in the front yard because no trees in the backyard would support the weight. Continue reading »
Making toys is hard. Who knows what kids like, amIright? Here, example, are some good intentioned toys that crossed the line from fun to frightening.
Since she was two, my older daughter has turned the TV off if she’s not watching it. She complains that when it’s on “she has to watch it.” I know the feeling — a noisy TV is almost impossible to ignore.
A recent small study involving 50 parent/toddler pairs found that when a TV is on, parents spend about 20 percent less time talking or playing with their children. “”Given that high-quality parent-child interaction plays an important role in children’s development, the study challenges the common assumption that background TV doesn’t affect very young children if they don’t look at the screen,” study authors wrote in a press release.
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
8