The Serious Side of Childhood Play
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Recently, I shared the bad news that childhood obesity has trebled in children from 6-11 years of age during the past three decades. There are many reasons for this. Children today are eating much more processed and high-fat food today than they did 30 years ago. Simultaneously, they are spending an average of over 7 hours each day connected to gadgets — and, they simply aren’t engaging in active play as much today unless there is an organized activity scheduled for them to participate in. Yes, I know that this isn’t the case for all children. Thankfully, there are still kids out there every chance they can get kicking or throwing a ball, jumping rope and running around the place. But sadly, this is less common than it was only 30 years ago.
I was reading an article today and had to look at the page several times because it sounded like I was reading my own words. It is so nice to find supportive arguments for your beliefs.
“…In the 1970s two Queensland physical education lecturers, Peter Lindsay and Denise Palmer, carried out a study published in 1981 as Playground Game Characteristics of Brisbane Primary School Children. The book, sadly out of print, should be a basic reference book in every primary school in Australia.
Lindsay and Palmer studied 5000 children, and compared traditional games with formal syllabus games, finding that on a number of measures such as cardio-vascular endurance and rhythm the traditional games were superior to the formal syllabus games.
Children can often solve their own problems, if left alone!…”
Please take a moment to read it. Take another moment to think about it. Take another minute to share it.
