Parents who pack children’s days with an enriching (yet demanding) schedule of activities may have things backwards. Child development experts are calling for more free play for children, and conferences such as this month’s Dallas Association for Parent Education (DAPE) program on the value of play are influencing parents to give kids room for a little healthy boredom.
Young children need time to explore on their own terms and their own timetable, explains Joan Almon, chair of the nonprofit Alliance for Childhood. “We have a tendency to be a little bit afraid – or maybe a lot afraid – to let children have time on their own,” she explains. “We’re afraid they’re going to get bored – which they will. That’s the wonderful ground out of which they will discover what they’re interested in because children don’t like to stay bored.”
Almon looks back on the days of sending the kids outside to play for hours on end as a good thing. “Children became quite self-reliant. They learned to negotiate with one another. You know, if you got into a fight every day with your friends, they just didn’t want to play with you anymore.”
The goal of play, she explains, is not to entertain children but to give them as much risk and challenge as they can handle. She adds, “Play is the arena in which they explore the world of risk.”
