Working at Play

"When we adults think of children there is a simple truth that we ignore: childhood is not preparation for life; childhood is life. A child isn't getting ready to live; a child is living. No child will miss the zest and joy of living unless these are denied by adults who have convinced themselves that childhood is a period of preparation"

-John A Taylor Notes on an Unhurried Journey

I am frequently asked what my children do all day and to give the answer "well, they play", while accurate, seems to be an inadequate response. People are looking for a list of activities that indicate that my boys are visibly productive, working towards a clear goal in neatly numbered steps. Our society has largely lost the ability to play and, more significantly, appreciate the importance of play.

"What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing" -Aristotle

A quick Google search this morning revealed three articles discussing the importance of play in childhood development. One from NPR in February 2008, another from The Scientific American Mind in February 2009, and a report on The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds from the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2007. All three articles agree that play is critical to the healthy growth of humans.

"When I approach a child, he inspires in me two sentiments; tenderness for what he is, and respect for what he may become." - Louis Pasteur

The NPR story attributes a lack of creativity in play today to the mass marketing of toys, starting in 1955 with Mattel. "Until 1955, ad budgets at toy companies were minuscule, so the only time they could afford to hawk their wares on TV was during Christmas. But then came Mattel and the Thunder Burp, which, according to Howard Chudacoff, a cultural historian at Brown University, was a kind of historical watershed. Almost overnight, children's play became focused, as never before, on things — the toys themselves. " Chudacoff argues that kids imaginative play diminished at this point because play was then scripted according to the type of toy or TV show/movie it originated from.

"As a child lives today, he will tomorrow." - John Dewey

I disagree with this and I believe it seriously underestimates the range and diversity of a child's imagination. It is not the object that stifles the imagination, it is a lack of respect for the serious business of play. If a child is given the space, time and respect required, it doesn't matter what kind of toy they have in their hand. Their story will unfold and the object will become anything they desire. I have watched my boys play pretend ToonTown, Pokemon, and Avatar. Their imagination takes the plot of those shows and games and creates new dramas and adventures for the characters.

"Learning is a kind of natural food for the mind." - Cicero

The article in The Scientific American Mind and the paper from the American Academy of Pediatrics both mention that children lack the space to play because parents and schools are pushing children to succeed academically at younger ages than in years past. Free time is being sacrificed in favor of structured activities; different kinds of lessons, gym classes, sports programs. Individually, these activities can be fun, en masse, they are hampering a child's ability to develop their cognitive skills. From the NPR piece: "According to Berk, one reason make-believe is such a powerful tool for building self-discipline is because during make-believe, children engage in what's called private speech: They talk to themselves about what they are going to do and how they are going to do it...Unfortunately, the more structured the play, the more children's private speech declines."

"Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Sergio M. Pellis, a behavioral neuroscientist at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, believes that restricting a child's access to free, unstructured play “simply defrays those costs to later, when those same children will have difficulty in dealing with an unpredictable, complex world,” Pellis says. “A child who has had a rich exposure to social play experiences is more likely to become an adult who can manage unpredictable social situations.”

"There is no difference between living and learning." - John Holt

I began thinking about this after I read a piece about the serious work of play, over at Anne's blog Main Entry: rad·i·cal Pronunciation: \ˈra-di-kəl\ . Her son, Sam, coined the term "pinicular work" to describe the most precious time of learning, growing and discovering in childhood. The work that all children need the space to perform in order to be, according to the research contained in all three of the articles I found, happy and successful adults.

"To invent you need a good imagination and a pile of junk." - Thomas Edison

What I love about the term "pinicular work" is that her son was 3 when he knew how important his play was to his well being. It didn't need to be taught, it is knowledge that we are all born with but most forget. The subject that so many psychiatrists and scientists need to study in order to understand it's significance was, and continues to be so many years later, a daily part of Sam's life. His parents gave him the gift of respecting his need to pursue his passions and be consumed by his imagination.

"The important thing is not to stop questioning." - Albert Einstein

My boys spend their days playing, lost in their imaginary worlds, exploring ideas for hours at a time. The best parts of my day involve watching them create, discover and simply enjoy their time to do whatever it is that they deem to be necessary at that particular moment. Perhaps, when I am asked what my kids do all day I should cite the information that I gathered from the articles. Or, maybe I'll just tell them that my kids are involved in their "pinicular work".

"Childhood has it's own way of seeing, thinking, and feeling, and nothing is more foolish than to try to substitute ours for theirs." - Jean Jacques Rousseau

I hope that my boys have the honor of continuing this kind of work throughout their lives.