Do the kids still play?
Specifically, do they play in active, imaginative, child-directed ways, off-screen and in the real world? I’ve received this question in many forms since starting this newsletter, from the reader who asked if kids are still learning to “ring around the rosy” to the dad who wondered if it’s possible to give kids freedom in a sometimes unsafe world.
Such concerns are not unreasonable. Research shows that children’s unstructured playtime has decreased significantly since the 1980s, due to abductions, traffic accidents, and violence Made parents more cautious about letting their kids play outside on their own. Study USA, UK and Europe Recent decades have seen a decline in children’s outdoor play, including a Increase screen time.
It is true that smartphones and tablets have, at least to some extent, replaced physical games with digital games As any parent of a young child can tell you, “technology has changed the way kids play,” Ruslan Slutsky, an education professor at the University of Toledo who studies play, told me. On the one hand, kids can now play video games with people all over the world. On the other hand, “there’s been a big disappearance in general neighborhood play,” Slutsky said.
Raised in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn in the 1950s, University of Delaware Education professor Roberta Golinkoff would play outside for hours, with no adult supervision and technology no more advanced than an old rubber ball. “That rubber ball can play thousands of games,” said Golonkoff, who has studied children’s play for decades. “Childhood is so different now.”
Replacing physical play with phones and iPads can be bad for kids’ gross motor skills and social development, including their ability to read faces, Slutsky said. Experts say free, unstructured play is also necessary for developing cognitive abilities like self-control. Some even believe An increase in anxiety and depression among young people in recent years may be linked to a decline in play.
However, I hear from experts, parents, and kids alike that kids are still playing, and that the creativity that turned rubber balls into hot potatoes and shot put and cannon fire is alive and well among kids today.
But adults need help making their neighborhoods safe for play — and giving them time for unstructured fun.
Why is the game different now?
Children’s play began to change in the 1980s, many experts say, after a series of high-profile kidnapping cases, including the disappearance of 6-year-old Ethan Patz. These incidents did not actually represent a spike in stranger abductions, which are relatively rare today. But the headlines about the children have been taken off the streets – alongside a short-lived but influential campaign that put them in some photos. Behind the milk carton — struck fear into the hearts of American parents, who began keeping their children at home.
At the same time, parents and educators become concerned about children’s academic performance, viz A number of studies American students lag behind their peers around the world. School years began to lengthen, making summer vacations shorter. Recess is also beginning to decrease with school districts in Atlanta, Chicago and elsewhere Eliminate it completely Hoping to boost test scores. Children of the 1990s and 2000s had less free time to play than their elders.
Then came the smartphone. iPhones and iPads take a lot of the blame Ruining American childhoodsAnd in some cases, the evidence is weak — there are no studies, for example, conclusively showing that social media harms children’s mental health. But phones and tablets have crowded out some more analog forms of fun
“In our research, we found that kids are spending a lot less time outside,” Slutsky said. “They were spending much less time on traditional forms of play because they were playing with devices.”
How are kids playing these days?
Playing on the device isn’t all bad. Children can use them to learn more about a special interest, such as birds, Golankoff said. (As a longtime birder, I can attest to its value Merlin.) Meanwhile, a Norwegian researcher (and former preschool teacher) found That young children can continue to play online in the real world — for example, using Minecraft concepts to play with blocks — and take small risks in online environments is what experts say is important for developing the kind of unpredictable play. some research Also showing that children’s play was resilient during the pandemic, children enjoyed drawing and other activities available to them – shopping for outdoor toys Like trampolines and bounce houses also rose at this time.
Despite the great changes in children’s free time and independence, they also retain their intelligence, as well as their desire to play active games that can be recognized by their elders. “I have a three-year-old son who seems to have learned about tagging, hiding and even ringing Rosie around with almost no input from our parents,” one reader wrote to me. “I’m still not sure he gets any of those rules, but all three practices are alive and well here in Kansas.”
(My 2-year-old son also likes to play “Ring Around the Rosie,” though he doesn’t understand the spin and sometimes runs into the wall afterwards.)
Flower, age 8, told me she recently discovered a game called “Steamroller.” “Someone lays down and rolls around,” he said, and then the other players “try to dodge the person rolling. It’s really fun.”
He and his friends at school enjoy a game they call “tag off the ground” — players are safe from being tagged as long as their feet don’t touch the playing field. Her 4-year-old sister likes to play “crocodile”: she chases around a crocodile and flowers.
“He likes games where he can be a kind of predator,” their mother said.
Flower lives in rural Wales, so she has more access to the outdoors than many American children. At the same time, the debate over children screen time And outdoor play Rage in UK as well as USA. And what struck me the most about our video call was actually a toy he showed me. an easy one stuffed animalIn the hands of the flower it can be transformed into various objects. “It could be a top, or it could be an accordion,” he said.
What children need from adults
Like Golinkoff with his rubber ball, children still use their creativity to bend and shape the world around them. However, today, they might need a little help making that world safe for them to play.
“If we want kids to play outside, we need to have space for them,” Slutsky said.
This means places where children feel safe and adults feel comfortable giving their children freedom to roam. Such places have declined in recent decades, for very real reasons, experts say. Although hijackings may not increase, cars are bigger and heavier than in the past, making them more dangerous for pedestrians — especially children, who are shorter and shorter, said Robert Snyder, a professor of urban planning at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who studies pedestrian safety. . Many parents understandably fear that the roads are not safe for their children.
Some children struggle with fear of police brutality or racist violence while playing outside. Black mothers of boys, in particular, told researchers “there was a groundswell of anxiety whenever their child walked out the door,” J. Rachel Zoe, associate professor of counselor education at the University of Central Florida, told me last year. Children of color and children from low-income families are also less likely than wealthier white children Access to green spaces For outdoor playtime.
Traffic calming measures such as curb extensions and medians, along with lower speed limits and pedestrian-only streets, can make neighborhoods safer for outdoor play, Snyder said. Cities like San Francisco and Boston have had some success improving their road safety Vision Zero PlanHe said, and in New York City, 71 roads will be closed This year school children are to play during recess.
Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, there is the nonprofit Trust for Public Lands Worked with school children Renovating playgrounds in inviting community parks in areas with less access to the outdoors.
Children also need time to play outside. To that end, California And Washington Recently passed laws mandated 30 minutes of daily recess for elementary school students and such laws are under consideration In other states too.
We will not go back to the days before smartphones. For one thing, Slutsky notes, kids are playing with their devices because they’re fun. However, we can create an environment where children can come together offline. We just need to create safe, inviting spaces and then get out of the kids’ way so they can do what they can.
As Golankoff says: “Let the children play.”
