Down Hill Racer by Lance Anderson
During a typical day at 268 kindergartens in Los Angeles and New York, children spent two to three hours learning or being tested on literacy and math skills, but 30 minutes or less in imaginative play, two top Alliance executives wrote in a recent report.
The above quote from this article is shocking to say the least.
Children might not be good at math, or literature, but if there’s one thing that they’re good at, it’s playing.
“Young children work hard at play. They invent scenes and stories, solve problems, and negotiate their way through social roadblocks. They know what they want to do and work diligently to do it. Because their motivation comes from within, they learn the powerful lesson of pursuing their own ideas to a successful conclusion…” Children who engage in playtime also have improved language and social skills, more empathy and imagination, and better self-control…
At a time in the world when we will need more creativity to deal with increasingly diverse and difficult problems, the last thing we should be doing is stifling childrens’ creativity this early in their lives! Unfortunately, there will be plenty of other opportunities to stifle them as they grow up.
What about those of us who are already adults?
Play time is necessary for us as well!
Make believe,
pretend,
play
next time you have a problem.
Children have it right. They truly believe they can solve any problem, fix any hurt, go to any planet, talk with any animal…
Then they grow up and forget the way to discover those solutions.
Dig deep, play and find those solutions that you need to be a child to see.
