Sports Mom
New Report Emphasizes the Importance of Unstructured Play for Healthy
Child Development
By Brooke de Lench
Too often these days, parents feel they have no choice but to pack their child’s schedules with adult-supervised, adult-driven activities such as organized sports. But, as a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) makes clear, such activities should not come at the expense of free and unstructured play, which is critical to healthy child development.
“Play (or some available free time in the case of older children and
adolescents) is essential to the cognitive, physical, social and
emotional well-being of children and youth.”
Why is free, unstructured play so important? There are lots of reasons:
• When play is child-driven, children practice decision-making skills,
move at their own pace, discover areas of interest on their own, and
ultimately engage fully in the passions they wish to pursue
• When play is controlled by adults - such as in organized sports -
children have to follow adult rules and concerns (like winning) and lose
some of the benefits play offers them, particularly in developing
creativity, leadership and group skills.
• Free, child-driven, creative play protects against the effects of
pressure and stressFinding Balance is Key
Since every child is different, the challenge for parents…. is to strike
a balance that allows their children to reach their potential without
pushing them beyond their personal comfort limits and while allowing
them personal free playtime.
…Children are not miniature adults - there will be plenty of time for
them to be stressed and overworked when they actually are adults.
In short, don’t forget to let your child be a child.
Brooke de Lench is the author of Home Team Advantage: The Critical Role of Mothers in Youth Sports (HarperCollins 2006) and founder and editor-in-chief of MomsTeam.com. SS