Don’t over program your kids. Buck the trend and give your child unstructured time to play alone or with friends.
Give the kids a room in the attic or the basement that they can call their own; a room that they can spill paint on the floor without you going nuts. Fill the room with simple things: all kinds of paper, crayons, paint, and markers; tape, scissors, and glue; wooden blocks; board games; puzzles; books; army men; small plastic zoo animals; a couple of big cardboard boxes; old clothes for dressing up; a boom box and CDs with a wide variety of music – country and western, show tunes, rock and roll, and even some opera! And leave them alone in the room – for hours. Let them come up with ideas to entertain themselves. If you get worried, check on them once in a while – bring them lunch or cookies and milk. But let them create their own entertainment – let them do their own problem solving. Imaginations are like muscles; they must be exercised.
The NCBLA has been promoting imaginary play for children for well over a decade. Kids need non-electronic screen time to play, to entertain themselves, to think, to relax, to move, to imagine and form their own visual images independently instead of always having other's words and images in their brains.
From "The Movement to Restore Children’s Play Gains Momentum" by Hilary Stout" in The New York Times:
For several years, studies and statistics have been mounting that suggest the culture of play in the United States is vanishing. Children spend far too much time in front of a screen, educators and parents lament — 7 hours 38 minutes a day on average, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation last year. And only one in five children live within walking distance (a half-mile) of a park or playground, according to a 2010 report by the federal Centers for Disease Control, making them even less inclined to frolic outdoors.
Behind the numbers is adult behavior as well as children’s: Parents furiously tapping on their BlackBerrys in the living room, too stressed by work demands to tolerate noisy games in the background. Weekends consumed by soccer, lacrosse and other sports leagues, all organized and directed by parents. The full slate of lessons (chess, tae kwon do, Chinese, you name it) and homework beginning in the earliest grades. Add to that parental safety concerns that hinder even true believers like Ms. Wilson."
For several years, studies and statistics have been mounting that suggest the culture of play in the United States is vanishing. Children spend far too much time in front of a screen, educators and parents lament — 7 hours 38 minutes a day on average, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation last year. And only one in five children live within walking distance (a half-mile) of a park or playground, according to a 2010 report by the federal Centers for Disease Control, making them even less inclined to frolic outdoors.
Behind the numbers is adult behavior as well as children’s: Parents furiously tapping on their BlackBerrys in the living room, too stressed by work demands to tolerate noisy games in the background. Weekends consumed by soccer, lacrosse and other sports leagues, all organized and directed by parents. The full slate of lessons (chess, tae kwon do, Chinese, you name it) and homework beginning in the earliest grades. Add to that parental safety concerns that hinder even true believers like Ms. Wilson.
Read more about imaginary play and its importance to children today in "The Movement to Restore Children’s Play Gains Momentum" by Hilary Stout in The New York Times at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/garden/06play.html?_r=1&hp
For more NCBLA literacy and education parenting tips, go to: http://www.thencbla.org/PTMpages/parents/parentbasics.html
