Oakville News
Lakeside Park Summer 2020 play structure
Where are all the kids? I asked myself during our walk around a local playground in Oakville on an unseasonably warm evening in March of 2023.
Probably doing homework…or on screens was my immediate afterthought.
For the rest of my walk, I reminisced about my childhood growing up in Mississauga, Ontario. About my after-school routine with my friends and I. We’d drop our knapsacks at home, then off to race our bikes and defend our tree house, along with the dozens of pick-up sports games over the years. Pushing my own and my friends’ limits in unstructured free play. It was fun. It was freedom. It was invaluable.
Shouldn’t more kids be playing outside?
In Canada, the number of children and hours of participation in outdoor unstructured free play has fallen over the last half-century. At the same time, teen and adult mental health disease have been trending in the opposite direction. As a physician interested in the development and well-being of children, I wondered: is there a tenuous link? Is the decreasing trend of unstructured free play in childhood correlating with increasing rates of anxiety and depression of our youth?
There is an argument to be made.
First, let’s define free play.
Free play is an activity directed by the children themselves, done for its own sake and not towards a particular goal. Swinging/climbing on the jungle gym, playing ‘dress-up’ and pickup sports games are all examples of free play. Adult-directed and structured exercises (eg. piano recitals, soccer camps) do not count as free play.
Why is free play important for childhood development? Several reasons:
- Children learn to practice self-control. For example, during rough pretend play, a basic unwritten rule is to not actually cause harm when going through the motions of real fighting. Otherwise, those injured children will play elsewhere leaving the aggressor who can’t exert self-control without any playmates.
- They learn to make decisions and solve problems. Without adult interference, children must decide themselves how to solve problems to keep play going. What if one in the group stubs their toe? Or the soccer ball goes over the fence? Solving such problems gives children a sense of personal control, which they carry over into adulthood.
- It improves the regulation of emotion. Free play trains young brains to deal with unexpected circumstances that give rise to fear, impatience and anger. Studies of animal models restricting young monkeys’ social play found that those deprived of social play during a critical phase in early life later went on to overreact to stressful situations, show increased hostility to other monkeys and not adapt well to novel situations. Sound familiar to the burgeoning mental health crises of teens entering post-secondary education?
- Children learn to treat others as equals. Whereas parents and teachers may show excessive praise, children themselves don’t over-estimate each other in play. Any child who is sensing unfair treatment or belittling by others will seek another group. The egalitarian nature of free play ensures that children get along with others as equals.
- It makes children happy. Isn’t this what every parent wants? Turns out children are happiest when given the freedom of unstructured free play. Studies of happiness in children show the lowest levels during school hours/homework, and highest when they are engaged in unstructured social play. Watching television and playing video games fell in between.
Fundamentally, the nature of free play extends the emotional and psychological growth not otherwise shaped through formal education and structured activities. All while making friends and pursuing intrinsic goals (as compared to extrinsic goals: getting straight As, winning a trophy, adulation from others).
Evidence from the social sciences suggests that pursuing extrinsic goals is commendable, but when done at the expense of intrinsic goals, it correlates with greater instances of anxiety and depression. Unfortunately, our North American culture has gradually shifted away from intrinsic and towards extrinsic values as a measure of achievement and success.
Greater access to video technology, an emphasis on scholastic achievement and fear of physical injury have contributed to the decline of free play as well.
While I agree with the importance of preparation for post-secondary education and preventing bodily harm, I truly hope that over time, we see more of our youth outside engaging in unstructured, unconstrained free play.
It is a critical window of opportunity for their emotional and psychological development now and in the future.
Resources
Peter Gray. The Decline of Play and the Rise of Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents. American Journal of Play. 2011. Volume 3(4): 443-63.
Peter LaFreniere. Evolutionary Functions of Social Play. Life Histories, Sex Differences, and Emotion Regulation. American Journal of Play. 2011. Volume 3(4): 464-88.
Pellis S.M., Pellis V.C., Bell H.C. The Function of Play in the Development of the Social Brain. American Journal of Play. 2010. Volume 2(3): 278-96.
Rachel C. Colley and Jenny Watt. The unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the physical activity habits of Canadians. Statistics Canada. May, 2022. Health Reports. Vol. 33 (5): 22-33
