All Work and No Play: Why Your Kids Are More Anxious, Depressed
20th October 2011
An article in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Play details not only how much children’s play time has declined, but how this lack of play affects emotional development, leading to the rise of anxiety, depression, and problems of attention and self control.
“Since about 1955 … children’s free play has been continually declining, at least partly because adults have exerted ever-increasing control over children’s activities,” says the author Peter Gray, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology (emeritus) at Boston College. Gray defines “free play” as play a child undertakes him- or her-self and which is self-directed and an end in itself, rather than part of some organized activity.
Sometimes the old ways are best.
October 20th, 2011 at 15:48
Well, they could all be Chinese and study 17 hours a day for the SAT–that would really put a crimp in playtime.
I remember “self-directed play”, only back in the day it was called “playing with yourself” and was viewed with a severely jaundiced eye.