Stimulation Does Not Equal Playing

The importance of open environments and investing in play capital at FastCoDesign: The Four Secrets of Playtime That Foster Creative Kids

Play Is Not The Same As Violence

There have been studies showing that physical play with kids stimulates the release of beneficial brain chemicals.

Last week I was fortunate to have a lot of play time with a 4 year old boy which was much different than play time with a 4 year old girl. But they both seemed to benefit and enjoy what we called "wrestle time", or as they liked to say "wrastle".

The boy and girl were clearly different in how they spent this wrestle time. The boy appeared to want to test the limits and the girl in pinning me and getting pinned back.

What is clear to me that the time I give my girls for roughhousing would be inadequate for a boy - if I had a boy I'd want to dedicate periods of time where he could have physical play (with rules to keep it from being violent) and get out his aggression with the understanding that outside of "wrestle time" physical play was not appropriate.

And so it seems like fortuitous timing when returning to civilization I came across this in the news. Via MSNBC: Bring it: Boys may benefit from aggressive play

Confirming What You Already Knew

PhysOrg: Physical activity may strengthen children's ability to pay attention

Lazy Sunday

NYT: Report Ties Children’s Use of Media to Their Health

Dr. Emanuel, whose brother, Rahm, is the president-elect’s chief of staff, said he was surprised by how lopsided the findings were. “We found very few studies that had any positive association” for children’s health, he said.

Researchers sought to look at the health effects of a wide array of media and distill 30 years of research into a simple message. “The average parent doesn’t understand that if you plop your kids down in front of the TV or the computer for five hours a day, it can change their brain development, it can make them fat, and it can lead them to get involved in risky sexual activity at a young age,” Mr. Steyer said.

Let Kids Choose Their Play

Parents who are different from me... who puts a 2 yr old in an organized sports class?

See: New genetic test asks which sport a child was born to play

Kids Need Playtime

From the "experts get paid for this?" department; apparently playing is good for kids. Shocking, I know.

See MSNBC: Experts: Lack of playtime is hurting children