I've just finished reading an informative article in the always fabulous New York Times Magazine (from February, yep that's how sadly behind the times motherhood has made me!) titled Taking Play Seriously (thanks for sharing little bunny!). What I love about it is it's helped me calm down and I can't ever get enough of that. The net net is that so long as you aren't some freak who is radically depriving your kids, they will turn out fine— whether they play all day or not at all. Hmmm. So, I can calm my constant worry about my kids not doing enough of this or that whether cognitive or physical etc etc and just let them be. In fact, just letting them be will probably save them from a whole host of pressures and other physiological ills I would likely cause! This reminds me of an article I read, which I think of often, that was in my favorite parenting magazine Wonder Time titled, "In Praise of Lazy Parenting" — I aspire.
Note to self: Don't worry, embrace the wild, even tyrannical eruptions of play. "In such an elaborate play culture...where so many children learn all those necessary arts of trickery, deception, harassment, divination and foul play that their teachers won't teach them but are most important in successful human relationships in marriage, business and war." " The individual most likely to prevail is the one who believes in possibilities — an optimist, a creative thinker, a person who has a sense of power and control. Imaginative play, even when it involves mucking around in the phantasmagoria, creates such a person." And I also really like this holistic listing of what we hope for each of our children: cognitive flexibility, social competence, creative problem solving, mastery of the body and their environment.
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