The Home Enviroment

By Jenny Bauer, MA, NCC, LPC-Intern
 

When you hear the word “play,” what comes to mind? For me, it brings to mind images of children outside, happily running and laughing, taking pleasure in the natural freedom and simplicity of childhood. I remember chasing my brother in the backyard and building sandcastles on the beach and splashing in the water and making up games of my own.
Play has an important and universal role in human life. It is spontaneous, not something we have to be taught to do, even from a very young age. It is inherently fun and critical to all aspects of our healthy human development. Play helps us grow and mature—physically, emotionally, socially, intellectually and spiritually. It has been shown that children who do not have the opportunity to engage in free play are more likely to experience all sorts of difficulties, from obesity to developmental delays.
Play stimulates our creativity and can be a great stress reliever. It connects people. Many of us fondly remember our first friends as a neighborhood or preschool playmate. Play allows children to explore their world and learn things about the environment around them and even themselves that cannot be taught. Through play, they can learn both what kinds of skills and limitations they have as individuals.
In addition to all the important aspects already mentioned, play can also work in a more profound way. It allows us to “act out” different and even difficult situations in a safe way. Picture a child who has experienced some sort of traumatic event in his or her life, such as the death of a loved one or some kind of abuse. Chances are that this child uses play to try to work through the intense emotions that this event brings up. Children will act out their experiences, or at least their feelings about the experience, with the toys around.
Developmentally, most children do not yet have the verbal skills adults like us count on to communicate, especially about complex issues. Most adults can put their feelings, frustrations, anxieties and problems into words, but these ideas are much too abstract for young minds. Play allows children to better express themselves in a developmentally appropriate manner.
This concept is at the heart of play therapy, where play is the language children speak and the toys are their words they use to communicate. In this way, the child can gain a sense of control over what otherwise might be an overwhelming experience. For example, a child who has had a loved one die might “play doctor” and try to “fix” other loved ones in an attempt to make sure no one else dies.
Our children are so very precious to us and we want nothing more than to protect them and enrich their lives. We want to give them opportunities we never had and see them grow and thrive. But in this drive to improve the quality of their lives, something essential is often being lost. In today’s modern society, free play is so often being overlooked in our constant busy schedules.
We carefully plan our children’s lives, arranging all sorts of extracurricular activities from after-school sports to piano lessons to ballet. And while it is clear that these activities are great for our children, we must remember to keep a sense of balance in our children’s lives as well. A child who goes from eight hours a day at school, then to activity after activity, then must sit down to do homework with no free time in between is likely to be experiencing a great deal of stress. And all over our country, recess time is being cut back or eliminated altogether in an attempt to achieve academic success.
With critical concerns like childhood obesity and stress at all-time highs in our society, we need to remember what is most valuable and beneficial to our children. They still need time to simply play, to just be kids. In our culture that increasingly believes there is no time or place for free play, it is crucial for us to encourage the intrinsic value of creative, imaginative, unstructured playtime. Without play, childhood is lost.
But play should not just be important when it comes to our children. Play is also essential to our lives as healthy adults. All of the wonderful benefits of free play for our children can also apply to us. It stimulates our creativity, sparks our imagination, helps to relieve our stress levels and can connect us to one another.
Even as grown-ups, we can use play to help us release pent-up energy and to explore our world in new and exciting ways. It is just as essential for us to find time in our busy lives to play now as when we were young.
With all of its clear benefits, it is essential that we make time for play, both in our own lives and in the lives of our children. So as summer approaches and the days start to get longer, let’s all take a moment to just go outside and play, cherishing the freedom and simplicity of childhood.