Getting Serious About………. Child’s Play

By sudha hariharan

There was a time not too long ago when children couldn’t wait to get home from school when they would rush into the gullis and mohallas to meet up with friends , play their favourite games amidst laughter and gaiety. The holidays have already begun yet playgrounds are empty and there are hardly any signs that children are enjoying themselves outdoors after the nerve-wracking exams have long been over.The afternoon dinhas died down and an uneasy and eerie silence looms. This of course, is not an healthy trend--- for our children, as well as society as a whole.

Childhood and play go hand in hand. Play should not be regarded as a dispensable part of childhood—the importance of play can be gauged by the fact that even young ones of animals indulge in play. The advent of technology has changed all that…. children today spend hours in front of computers and TV alone. A recent study has also found that children put on 6 kgs of weight, on an average, each year just by sitting and watching TV!

Dr. Rajani Konantambigi , Faculty-Unit for Child and Youth Research, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and Dr. Meera Oke attached to Soham ,a NGO based in Pune, shed light on the importance of play on the mind and body, and its influence in moulding children ‘s personality.

“ Play encourages creative thinking in young children and this develops their ability to challenge the conventional, stay alert and express themselves effectively”, says Dr. Rajani

Extensive studies have shown that even in infants, playing with toys promotes overall growth besides providing endless hours of pleasure and teaching children about the world around them. Toys also impart knowledge of socially acceptable behaviour----about sharing, giving and taking, and the sexual role society will eventually expect of them. Children first begin to play with toys when they are about 3 months old—the age at which they are able to hold objects

Dr. Meera who has done some work on examining patterns of children’s ( 6-12 years) spontaneous group play as a potential for development of management skills. “ Children”, she says” form groups on their own and choose a leader. The group makes the rules for play, including boundaries and concessions for newcomers and weaker players”.

Parents must understand that toys and play mean a mess . A child getting messy, colouring a picture is experimenting with new ways of combining colours and representing thoughts. A child fixing his bike with a parent is learning how to solve problems by thinking creatively, even if he gets covered in oil.

What is your child’s favourite toy? Ten to one, it won’t be the Ferrari with the remote control or the Barbie doll with her chic wardrobe. The most beloved toy could well be something simple and probably cheap. These toys are loved more because they are sturdy and have withstood rough and long use. Today’s hi-tech world, with its electronic toys, computer and video

games means less time is being spent on creative play. Dr Rajani says,” Children who are brought up avoiding dirt and mess are missing out on opportunities to develop their motor skills, learn about their environment, master new skills and think creative”

“ Conflicts are a part of spontaneous group play and children resolve these with specific strategies ( particularly when rules are broken)”, adds Dr. Meera.

Play & Physical Development

Young children need the stimulation of play to develop their physical abilities. As children grow, play gives them valuable opportunities to refine and develop both large and small muscle skills. The outdoors, says Dr Rajani is one of the best physical play environments---there is freedom to run, jump, skip and develop motor skills and coordination through ball games .

Besides teaching children about sounds, smells and touch it helps them master concepts such as size, shapes, texture, weight etc and hone their skills by practice.

At least 155 million school-going children, worldwide, are overweight or obese. The calculated global prevalence of overweight kids ( including obese) aged 5-17 years is estimated by the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) to be approximately 10%, but this is ‘unequally distributed’ with the prevalence ranging from over 30% in the Americas to less than 2% in sub-Saharan Africa.

In India, the difference between the rich and the poor is evident- a recent survey of children from six schools in Chennai, two each from high, middle, and lower income groups revealed that the tendency to be overweight ( and obese) ranged from 22% in better schools to 4.5% in lower income group schools.

In a Delhi school, with tuition fees more than Rs. 2,500/month, 31% of the kids were overweight and 7.5% obese. In Pune, the figure for overweight children were 24% and 6% in well-off schools and corporation schools respectively.

Says Dr. Rajani,” Unhealthy foods and the ‘couch potato’ syndrome have contributed to this….by promoting active lifestyles, including at least one hour of vigorous play each day, limiting TV and other sedentary activities to 2 hours/day, this trend can be reversed”.

Play v/s Risk

In order to play freely, children need to be outdoors. “However”, she says” fears about crime, drugs, abduction and road accidents are causing a growing number of parents to keep their kids indoors. This leads to preoccupation with TV and computer/ video games”.

Being overly concerned about mishaps outdoors is also one of the reasons.” Small cuts and bruises encountered while playing outdoors is only normal and equips kids to predict risk and face greater challenges. Cocooning them will make them reckless. A fear of the real, dirty world is making our kids incapable of assessing risk”.

Building Immunity

Fewer children die today in the developed world from infections, but the sterile environment in which they live prevents them from developing immunity to many harmless infections at an early age. Scientists believe that this impedes the development of the immune system and causes it to over-react. This would suggest that exposure to dirt at an early age could prevent kids from developing allergies. However it certainly does not mean that we should deliberately expose babies and young infants to bacteria, viruses or parasites through bad hygiene and sanitation. Encouraging children to play outdoors an get dirty, rather than cushioning them in sterile environments could actually reduce the risk of allergies or asthma.

Social networking

“ When kids from different communities play, socialization patterns are reflected--- particularly gender differences. It also helps bring the adults in the neighbourhood together, establishes social networks of mutual support and civic participation”, says Dr. Meera. However she laments the fact that with parents working full time, the pull of TV and the drift towards the suburbs has reduced contact between members of a community.