

Imaginative play makes us better adjusted, smarter and less stressed - robg
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-serious-need-for-play&print=true

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wallflower
I fondly recall playing in the dirt under a bush with my Star Wars action
figures for hours and days in aggregate, lost in an environment of my
creation. I observe my over-stimulated (as in classes for music/art and prior
to that, Baby Einstein) nephew and wonder if he's missing out on the pleasures
of just unscheduled, imaginative play. I think he is; however, I don't think
he knows that. I wonder if parents who grew up playing on their own, with
their own imaginations have been peer-pressured into the Baby Einstein way of
child attention occupation.

~~~
wensing
Generationally-speaking, I think the role of TV in children's lives has
increased greatly since I was young (I am 27 now, with a 1 yr old son and 4 yr
old daughter). So many people are growing up now believing that TV is the
nanny, educator, entertainer, informer, you name it. Sesame Street was just
being invented during the Gen-X days of growing up. There weren't as many
options. Now, new parents are bombarded with media, and most of them believe
what they're told.

Take away the TV and see what the child does. And see what the parents do.
Fascinating.

~~~
wallflower
My friend who works at Comcast said the perennial top _late night/wee hours of
morning_ Video-on-Demand requests are modern Nickelodeon-era, child pleasing
staples like "The Wiggles"

I've watched "The Wiggles" several times. How can a tired, full-time parent
ever compete (in the entertain-my-kid realm) with the hyper-naturally perky,
fun, safe, singing and dancing former punk rock band called "The Wiggles"

~~~
wensing
That is a really sad factoid.

Oh man. Don't get me started. But if you insist, a few high-level thoughts:
real life isn't about being entertained, the parent has the advantage of being
_the parent_ \--wow, a relationship possibility, right before your eyes! Why
are you wasting the 12 years you have before adolescence on mindless drivel
instead of winning your child's affection? Agh! OK, I'll stop.

~~~
wallflower
Unfortunately, I think all child raising theory and advice is theoretical
until you get to practice it on your _own_ children.

"I really didn't like TV-Turnoff Week except that I did notice that my grades
went up and I was in a good mood all week." - Second grader Drew Henderson,
Donora, PA

<http://tvturnoff.org/>

"In a recent study, two economists at the University of Chicago, Matthew
Gentzkow and Jesse Shapiro, came up with a different way to test the long-run
impact of television on kids." Yes, but sometimes test scores aren't the
defacto measurement of impact on kids..

<http://www.slate.com/id/2136372/>

~~~
wensing
_Unfortunately, I think all child raising theory and advice is theoretical
until you get to practice it on your own children._

I know you don't mean to imply otherwise, but that is what I'm doing right
now. And I will tell you that I love hearing my daughter say "Anyway, I'm
going to go to the couch and read a book now." instead of "Daddy can I watch
Wiggles?!?!" :-)

Not that my wife and I don't have a long, long way to go.

Awesome quotes, by the way. Thanks for sharing.

~~~
wallflower
I think you're on the right track. My sister (of the overactive nephew) has a
set of favorite childhood books that she wants to pass her love of reading,
when the time comes.

And, of course, I was unable to parse whether you were a parent based on the
3rd person subjects you were using.

------
wensing
From the article:

 _"Children learn to be fair and take turns—they cannot always demand to be
the fairy queen, or soon they have no playmates. “They want this thing to keep
going, so they’re willing to go the extra mile” to accommodate others’
desires, he explains._

HA! As the father of two children under five years of age, I reject the idea
that children will teach themselves how to share or play fair. Perhaps if I
let her, my four year old would eventually feel sorry for bullying her brother
away from her keyboard, but I am not going to wait on some evolutionary time
scale for that to happen (I personally don't think it will).

------
speek
Yes! I'm glad someone did the research to write this.

