Posts Tagged ‘social development’

If you haven’t yet, please check out the Baby Leg Warmers giveaway going on until March 1o.

…time and space for free play.

I’m continuing my series on ways I would love to make a difference in the world. In previous posts I suggested an indoor play area not part of a fast food restaurant in every community and a bookshelf full of age appropriate books for every home. I’ve been thinking a lot about play as a necessary part of child development. I recently began reading Playful Parenting by Lawrence J. Cohen. He names three reason child desperately need play in their lives:

1. To Connect, or Reconnect after connection has been severed
2. To Build Confidence by role playing and practicing new skills in a safe environment
3. To Heal from Emotional Distress by recreating the situation with different roles and outcomes

These are compelling reasons why children need generous amounts of free time to play, create, connect, imagine and discover the world around them and their position in that world. I see such potential in my little ones and I want more than anything to provide every opportunity to foster that potential. But my biggest fear is over-scheduling them in sports, lessons, service opportunities and any other good thing that may arise. Cohen goes on to explain that this need for play is not an early childhood phenomenon. That childhood is made up of this need to play and it stretches long past toddlerhood.

It’s not just important that children play, but that they have playmates. This could be siblings, friends and even, maybe most importantly, parents. When we use play as an opportunity to connect with our children we can learn something about them and their experiences that we would never be able to draw out of them through conversation alone. When we use play to build confidence in our children they are learning in a most powerful way the strength of their character and determination to master a skill. When we use play to help them heal from emotional distress we skip over the discipline, yelling, correcting that we somehow come to rely on and jump instead straight to the heart of the matter and bring our little ones back to the joy of life they so often display.

For these reasons, and many more, I want every child to have the time and space to play.

What do you want for every child?

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One day Elli invented a new game. I don’t remember it evolving from any patterns or previous games. I can’t even think of where she might have gotten the idea. As far as I can tell, it’s all her own and she definitely owns it!

After I change her diaper, I usually stand her up on the changing table to pick her up. One day when she was facing me she held up her hand for me to kiss. So I kissed her hand. Then she held up the other hand for me to kiss. So I kissed it. Then, without warning, she planted both hands firmly on my the upper part of my chest, like you see in the picture. It startled me so much I almost lost my balance!

She has repeated this game for over a week now. She absolutely loves it and giggles the whole time. I keep wondering where she came up with the idea. I guess I may never know. But I do know that it’s so fun to interact with her in a game that she initiates. I feel like the child waiting with excitement to see what the next part of the game will be. Elli’s the parent patiently teaching me what to do, like when I first didn’t realized I was supposed to kiss her hand and she nearly smacked my lips so I’d get it.

What games have your little ones invented that you had to learn?

I was at the health department last month and picked up an information card highlighting milestones of child development for little ones birth through 4 years old. I thought it fitting to share with you as it has great things to look for in your little ones as they change month to month.

The purpose of the CDC’c campaign “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” is to help parents and healthcare providers catch the signs of developmental delays and disorders early so resources and treatments can begin as early as possible thus allowing children the maximum benefit from those resources and treatments.

I’ve been blessed with two healthy little ones so I love this information from a “oh ya, she does that now!” perspective. But my best friend from high school just told me that her second child was recently diagnosed with high functioning autism. A label to the behavior somehow seems to change the whole experience. Sometimes it’s in a good way because now real information and solutions become available. But sometimes it’s in a negative way when there’s denial or an uncooperative attitude from a parent or teacher. I think information is the key to understanding. That coupled with the love we have for our little ones will get us and them far in this life.