NPR: Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills
Ah-Ha! NPR gives me a reason for my personal aversion to all licensed character merchandise! It inhibits his “executive function.”
cough
Despite the psycho-babble, this is a great piece. If you listen to it you get the added benefit of the hilarious ironic ending: “blah, blah, kids need lots and lots of free play, unstructured by adults, the more the better, blah, blah…..if you would like a listing of preschools that follow this model, please contact us at….” I laughed out loud! Hang on, hang on, all through the broadcast I was thinking, “See, who needs preschool?” Then the ad, and I wonder, “So, I’m going to call you to see if I can pay my local preschool to let my kids play with sticks and blocks?” But, it is NPR, after all. Better not be encouraging mothers to stay at home!
Clearly the way that children spend their time has changed. Here’s the issue: A growing number of psychologists believe that these changes in what children do has also changed kids’ cognitive and emotional development.
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“We find that children who are most effective at complex make-believe play take on that responsibility [of picking up toys] with… greater willingness, and even will assist others in doing so without teacher prompting.”
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“Because of the testing, and the emphasis now that you have to really pass these tests, teachers [in preschools!] are starting earlier and earlier to drill the kids in their basic fundamentals. Play is viewed as unnecessary, a waste of time,” Singer says. “I have so many articles that have documented the shortening of free play for children, where the teachers in these schools are using the time for cognitive skills.”
It seems that in the rush to give children every advantage — to protect them, to stimulate them, to enrich them — our culture has unwittingly compromised one of the activities that helped children most. All that wasted time was not such a waste after all.
So, no guilt for a day of all Lincoln Logs, Duplos, army guys, and trucks! Phew, I was starting to get nervous there. :P
