The Benefits of Tree-Climbing and Firefly-Chasing

Let your kid be a kid!

She notes that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children play outside as much as possible, for at least 60 minutes a day. Unfortunately, almost half of our children aren’t getting any time outside. Sending kids outside to play more often would not only go a long way toward combating our childhood obesity problem, it would simultaneously allow kids to enjoy more unstructured play. “Most experts agree that kids should have twice as much unstructured free time as structured playtime,” says Levine. “Every child is different, but as Ken Ginsburg, MD, a leading expert on resilience, says, ‘What every child needs is free, unscheduled time to master his or her environment.’”

Let your kid be a kid!

First, you have to buy in to the belief that play is important. Unfortunately, this is tough for many parents. We’re steeped in a culture that elevates work and downplays play. When we see our daughter dancing around the living room we think, She’s so talented! She needs dance lessons! But the minute you do this it stops being play.

“Read up on the evidence about play,” suggests Levine Teach Your Children Well: Parenting for Authentic Success. “You’ll find it’s far more valuable than force-feeding children ‘education’ at a young age. Research shows that children who attend play-based preschools, as opposed to academic preschools, do significantly better in school down the line. Baby Einstein actually retards, rather than advances, language acquisition. Once you realize that your assumptions are wrong, you’ll be motivated to change your parenting practices.”