Children should play more!

Erika Christakis and Nicholas Christakis had a special article for CNN titled:

“Want to get your kids into college? Let them play.”

Traditional wisdom suggests that if you should start your child with flashcards and training early if want your child to go to Harvard.

The Christakis suggest the opposite. They think a play-based program would be more beneficial.
I thought recreational therapists who work with children would be interested in knowing about this.

The suggest children learn impulse control from play-based programs.

I witness this daily as a Recreational Therapist. Children interrupt, monopolize time, attempt to move their peer’s game pieces. They often just act on impulse. It reminds me of the Marshmallow studies that proved children who waited for two marshmallows were more successful in later life opposed to the children who opted to have just one marshmallow right away (seeking instant gratification).

Christakis suggests these benefits for play:
“Through play, children learn to take turns, delay gratification, negotiate conflicts, solve problems, share goals, acquire flexibility, and live with disappointment. By allowing children to imagine walking in another person's shoes, imaginative play also seeds the development of empathy, a key ingredient for intellectual and social-emotional success.”


You can read the full article at this link:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/12/29/christakis.play.children.learning/index.html?hpt=Sbin

If you haven't done so already, then you may want to check out my children's book. It teaches the same type of skills:

sharing, taking turns, being friendly, having empathy, etc.

Reading a children's book can be a fun activity. Based on my experiences, some children complain about not wanting to listen to a story. But then again some children complain when we have fitness activities or art activities. We can't please all people all the time.

Here is my solution: I tell the children that I was lucky to have had a grandmother who had read stories to me as a child and that I enjoyed it. I let the kids know that I care about them and want them to have the same experience. After reading the book, we do an activity together (play a game) or (do an art project) that is related to the book.

Go here to get the book: