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[...] Play time is in short supply for children these days and the lifelong consequences for developing children can be more serious than many people realize.
An article in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Play details not only how much children's play time has declined, but how this lack of play affects emotional development, leading to the rise of anxiety, depression, and problems of attention and self control.
[...] Gray describes this kind of unstructured, freely-chosen play as a testing ground for life. It provides critical life experiences without which young children cannot develop into confident and competent adults. Gray's article is meant to serve as a wake-up call regarding the effects of lost play, and he believes that lack of childhood free play time is a huge loss that must be addressed for the sake of our children and society.
Parents who hover over and intrude on their children's play are a big part of the problem, according to Gray. "It is hard to find groups of children outdoors at all, and, if you do find them, they are likely to be wearing uniforms and following the directions of coaches while their parents dutifully watch and cheer." He cites a study which assessed the way 6- to 8-year-olds spent their time in 1981 and again in 1997.
(Score: 5, Informative) by frojack on Saturday May 12 2018, @06:34PM (3 children)
As a child, I was given a bike, a small backpack, a pocket knife, and a a couple of brothers and a few neighbor kids to play with.
We were instructed to stay off the highway, except to cross it, but every street county road, field, woodland, creek, river, gravel-pit were considered in-bounds. Our range was limited only by our leg power, and the admonishment: Be home for dinner.
We'd pack lunches (sometimes), fill the canteen, grab buckets for berry picking, or fishing rods, or bats and balls, and disappear.
We got minor burns, scrapes, cuts road-rash, bruises. But none got seriously hurt, although a neighbor kid got a baseball come-backer hit squarely in the face, and I vaguely remember someone with an arm in a cast.
These days, the parents would get arrested.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday May 12 2018, @09:01PM
Yup. That is some pathetic truth you speak.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Sunday May 13 2018, @05:30AM
On the other hand, childhood mortality rates have declined by a significant factor since the 1950s. I found this document, which compared 1984 with 2014 in UK
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105170808/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lifetables/past-and-projected-data-from-the-period-and-cohort-life-tables/2014-based/stb-2014-past-and-projected.html [nationalarchives.gov.uk]
(click on "download pdf"). Looking at Fig. 3, factor 3 decline in childhood mortality. It doesn't break down by cause of death (improved healthcare for example might explain the change, rather than generic lifestyle factors).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 13 2018, @03:49PM
Sounds like the worst game of Fuck, Marry, Kill I've ever heard of.