I remember when my boys were little how they wanted me to to play Hot Wheels with them all the time. I thought I was going to keel over from boredom as I pushed my cars around (shhh, please don't tell them that!). Problem was, I had forgotten how to play. Just play. My kids can STILL spend hours making up scenarios for those cars. What a gift it is to have an imagination!
Part of the criticism that's coming out now in studies in regards to the mercurial rise of organized everything (sports, games, school work) in our culture is that it's beating the imagination out of our kids, not to mention CREATING stress within them. (Perhaps because they're set up by adults who long ago lost their own imaginations...but I digress...)
The American Academy of Pediatrics published a report last year stating that unstructured play is essential for healthy development. Here's the article! Take a look at it and use that as fodder to explain to your spouse/in-laws/neighbors why you're pulling back the reigns on some of the organized stuff.
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