Why play?

‘Mum we’re bored’, does not send me into panic mode, make me wreck my head and look through the budget for ‘boredom curing’ activities for my children. They are kids and kids should be allowed to become ‘bored’. Its part and parcel of being a child and it’s not entirely a bad thing. It fuels their creativity. Nowadays the culture is such that as parents we are often pressured (consciously or sub consciously) into keeping our kids entertained and occupied. Most kids already have schedules that are filled with organised and paid for activities that they are hardly left with any energy or desire for creative free play. Yes, it is not uncommon these days for young children to be as stressed out as adults. Now I’m not against children being engaged in organised sport and extra curricula activities as these structured activities are very beneficial to their overall development and growth. However, as parents we do need to know where to draw the line and give our kids space and time to ‘just be’. Kids need to be kids, to be allowed to be the young, immature, curious and creative little beings that they are. They need to play. It keeps them happy, healthy and definitely reduces stress. After all, childhood should be stress free!

When I was a child I remember that often we would be told to ‘Go and play outside’. Usually we would go outside with no fancy battery operated toys or instructions on what games we were supposed to play and how to play them. We were just told to ‘play’ and so that’s what we did. We played. Mum and dad didn’t have to organise our every activity. In fact, ironically, boredom was actually good ‘creativity fuel’. We played with friends, played with sticks, leaves, clay, we played with one or two dolls, and we conjured up games of all sorts. One ball was enough to keep us entertained and occupied for hours. To be honest, our entertainment comprised mostly of non bought or paid for activities. Sometimes we would get bruises and cry but they always healed and that didn’t stop us from venturing out to play again. I remember spending hours with friends building ‘fairy houses’ in the garden out of flowers, pebbles, leaves and twigs, I remember the sweet mango infused smell of the air around the time when mangoes ripened, I remember sometimes just sitting outside with a good book and getting lost in the story while hearing the background noises of friends and other kids playing, laughing, crying and sometimes even fighting. The playground was a good place of exploration, experimentation, learning and lots of fun. Play is fun. It is what children do and it’s how they learn best. While we may not have the freedom that was enjoyed by most parents years ago of letting children just play in the street with all the other neighbours’ kids, we still need to let our children enjoy this fundamentally important world of play. In a child’s world play is very ‘intellectual’. Through it, they learn social skills, problem solving, how to be attentive, respect for others and a whole lot more. Children take in more when we create an environment that encourages them to desire, love and be enthusiastic about certain things rather than when they are forced to ‘learn’ in pressured environments. Incorporating learning into play in subtle ways that kindle the hunger to learn more will go a long way as they will learn without even knowing that they are learning.

In my next post I will share some of what I’ve learnt in my journey so far as a parent, aunt and sister with regards to the many ways in which we can nurture the creativity that our kids carry and help to create happy childhood memories so that when the stressful bill paying, responsibility laden years kick in, hopefully those memories will put a smile on their faces as they ‘happily’ sign the check for the electricity bill.

I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas. What memories of ‘play’ from your childhood do you hold dear and treasure to this day and what simple games would you want to pass on to your children and maybe also ‘relive’ those playground memories as you join in with your kids to explore the wonderful world of play?