"Let the Kids be Kids" - The Importance of Free Play

"Children are designed, by natural selection, to play," wrote Peter Gray, Ph.D., a research professor at Boston College, in a 2011 article in the American Journal of Play. "Wherever children are free to play, they do." Play is essential to development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth. Play is so important to optimal child development that it's been recognized by the United Nations as a basic right of every child.

But with all of the structured activities and the strictly scheduled lives kids often have these days, some are left without any real time to just play. Even when given time to play, they may be too tired after participating in all the organized activities to take advantage of the opportunity.

There are a host of factors that have led to a decrease in free play time including a greater emphasis on academic preparation, working parents with little free time to care for children, more electronic screen time, less time spent playing outdoors, perceived risk of play environments, and limited access to outdoor play spaces.

However, the last half-century has seen a decline in kids' opportunities to play. Precisely how fast and how much it's declined is difficult to quantify, though historians suggest that it's been continuous and great. It's also lead to lasting negative consequences.

In that same article, Gray detailed how the lack of play affects emotional development, leading to the rise of anxiety, depression, and problems of attention and self-control.

ray argues that without play, young people fail to acquire the social and emotional skills necessary for healthy psychological development.

In a special report on play from 2007, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) outlined a host of payoffs of free play, including that it:

Allows kids to use their creativity and develop their imagination, dexterity, and other strengths

Encourages kids to interact with the world around them

Helps kids conquer their fears and build their confidence

Teaches kids to work in groups so they learn to share and resolve conflicts

Helps kids practice decision-making skills

Helps children adjust to school and enhance their learning readiness, learning behavior, and problem-solving skills

Of course, it's also fun, and all that running, biking, and jumping kids often engage in helps build healthy bodies. That's a significant benefit, considering that 20 percent of American children are obese. Many experts attribute the dramatic rise in childhood obesity and the decline in physical fitness at least partly to the decline in outdoor play.

The ability for kids to manage their emotions and behaviors, what experts call emotional regulation, may also be a casualty of too-little play—and a factor in the high rate of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Children learn how to regulate fear, anger, and other emotions while playing. This teaches them how to maintain emotional control in threatening and real-life situations, all of which, Gray says, seems to be a perfect countervailing force to the impulsivity, hyperactivity, and lack of emotional control that characterize ADHD.

It's important to note that this kind of play is meant to be unstructured, child-driven play. It's not the kind of playtime that's controlled by adults and it doesn't include passive play, such as sitting in front of a video game, computer, or TV.

Keep in mind that just because the free play isn't controlled by adults it doesn't mean you shouldn't supervise your kids while they're playing, especially if they're playing outside.