Play is universal throughout the animal kingdom -- whether its a puppy chasing its tail, or young birds swooping through the air. The importance of play to youngsters should not be underestimated.
Play is an essential part of growing up and researchers beleive its critical to ensre children reach their full potential in life.
Research in animals show that brain connection develop during period of play, and there's no reason to suppose the same is not true of young humans.
Parents don't always undertsand the importance of play however, and in today's competitive world, the temptation is to stop your children "wasting time" and to put the time to what they believe is more constructive use.
For a child, however, there is no more constructive activity than play. When analysing the importance of play, particularly if you are tempted to introduce a more "worthwhile" activity, such as flash cards, educational computer games or dancing lessons, you should take into account the following points :-
* Play allows a young child to be "in-charge" - Think about this -- in everyday lives, they're small and powerless, always being told what to do and how to do it. Without an adult around, they're running the show.
* Play helps the children learn about the world in which they live. They can investigate and discover, test their theories, spatial relationships, explore cause and effect, societal role and family values. Such the importance of play, that there's virtually no area of life about which it can't teach a child something.
* Play build self esteem. Children will often play at something they know they can do well, at which they can be successful.
* Play build social skills. Children will begin playing with inanimate and non-threatening objects, like cuddlt toys, bricks, etc, so practising their interactive skills. Later, playing with other children will build on this foundation as they learn to share, take turns, assert themselves and begin to emphatise with others.
* Play with parents shouldn't be under estimated either as research shows that children whose parents play with them ultimately develop superior social skills.
* Play also provides the opportunity for children to work out their feelings. The importance of dealing with difficult or unpleasant emotions is immense. A child whose worried about going to the dentist, for example, may deal with the anxiety by setting up a clinic for dolls with toothache.
* Play helps with language development. Think of the vast number of words of toddler uses during play, many of them repeatedly, enhancing their language skills.
* Play allows children to grow beyond their years. They can pretend to be all sorts of things in play - a doctor, a surgeon, a civil engineer even! (Think of those bricks)
Finally, don't forget to consider the importance of stimulating your child's creativity and imagination - aking a castle in the sand, or a car garage out of a shoe box, taking an order in their own (imaginary) restaurant or dressing up as a king or queen - these all allow children to stretch the limit of their world and experience the fun of make-believe.
