Down Time is Healthy for Kids

Do your children ever have any unstructured free time? We had a lot of that when I was a kid and it turns out our parents where right - it was good for us.

I was glad to see a news story this week touting the benefits of unstructured play time. Everyone is so busy these days and it seems that doing nothing is decidedly frowned upon. But researchers are proving what we already knew: down time is healthy for kids.

According to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), "free and unstructured play is healthy and- in fact essential- for helping children reach important social, emotional, and cognitive developmental milestones as well as helping them manage stress and become resilient."

Children's lives are so structured. We make sure they are either entertained or doing something constructive every waking moment. Each minute is planned. Each minute is busy. Not just at home, either, but also at school.

My children look at me like I'm crazy if I tell them to go outside and find something to do. That's foreign to kids today. But that pretty much sums up my childhood. We would make things out of sticks and mud, build forts, climb trees, explore the nearby woods, or watch ants for what seemed like hours at a time. We'd come home at dark with a few new bruises and scrapes, but satisfied that we had wasted away a day, free and clear.

What the study showed is that free, unstructured time helps children de-stress and become more emotionally and mentally healthy. Today, kids spend much of their free time on video games or watching television. Then, they are taxied off to dance, soccer or gymnastics. The problem is, the games, television and coaches are doing most of their thinking for them. Each moment is planned and implemented. And being too busy is stressing them out and causing a rise in childhood and adolescent depression. Children need some time to do "nothing" and let their minds and emotions rest.

So, one of the AAP's recommendations is that children be given "true toys" like dolls or blocks that encourage them to use their own imaginations in play. You've heard the story of children opening their presents on Christmas morning, discarding the expensive toy, and playing for an hour with the box. They're telling us something.

Sitting in front of a game or television day after day is certainly not the answer. That sedentary lifestyle is not only bad for them mentally, but physically as well.

I understand why the pendulum has swung so far toward being busy - free time is an opportunity to get into trouble, but I still think it's worth the risk. Of course we need to watch them and set guidelines, but then we should turn them loose. "I'm bored," they may say. But we should stick to our guns, turn off the games and television, and tell them to get outside and have some fun.

In other words, let kids be kids. They'll grow up soon enough. They'll face the challenges of adulthood, and they'll face much of it without our help. It is our responsibility, then, to let them be kids while they can. Try to balance structured and free time. Most activities are good in their own right, and the study recognized that, but we need to swing the pendulum back a little.

We are all busy and that's okay, but let's remember to leave some time for just good, old fashioned free-time.

You can contact Craig Harris at www.apparentlyso.net.