A New Challenge to Childhood – the Adult Colonisation of Play
by Robyn Monro Miller
Childhood in Australia is being undermined by a new breed of play
terrorism where educational outcomes and bureaucratic red tape take
precedence over children’s leisure time.
This "adult colonisation of play" (Hughes, 2005) is resulting in a
contamination of childhood experiences by political agendas and
consumerism, where the marketing of educational products and services to
families denigrates the power and importance of children’s free play to their
optimal development.
Adrian Voce of the Children’s Play Council in the UK strongly advocates
that the extent of play deprivation experienced by many children today is at
least as damaging as the prevalence of junk food. Play is so important that
the United Nations High Commission has recognised it as a right of every
child for Human Rights. Yet with this in mind we have Governments, media
and other agencies still focussed on the obesity epidemic, not the critical
shortage of child friendly play spaces and access to quality out of school
hours services.
Free spirited play and adventure is being downgraded whilst a new
definition of play is being promoted. This new definition seeks to interpret
mastery of academic outcomes and completion of components of school
curriculum as aspects of play. Discussion on extended school days and extra
curricular activities by well meaning politicians only serve to perpetrate the
false belief that academic achievement is an essential indicator of biological
fitness.
Chris Mercogliano in his book ‘In Defence of Childhood” argues that we are
robbing our young people of "that precious, irreplaceable period in their
lives that nature has set aside for exploration and innocent discovery,"
(Mercogliano, 2007) leaving them ill-equipped to face adulthood.
In our own practice as professionals working with children in their leisure
time we need to be particularly vigilant that we are defenders of childhood,
not catalysts for it’s ultimate destruction.
Leading play advocate Bob Hughes warns us that although children are now
central to the participation processes in design and decision-making, their
freedom to play in ways controlled by them and motivated by their needs, is
frequently compromised. Adult agendas predominate (Hughes, 2007).
In Out of School Hours care provision the interpretation of accreditation by
many individuals and service providers has resulted in the ‘adult agenda’
predominating with restrictions placed on children’s freedom to play.
Parents in response to the lack of information available about the importance
of free play to their child’s development, often contribute to the demise of
their own child’s time for play. Parents reflect with guilt on their own
childhoods as a pleasure sadly not experienced by their own child.
Themselves victims of consumerism, parents increasingly are pressured to
book their children into new and improved educational programs and
classes. This false expectation of ‘good parenting’ results in unrealistic
expectations of children, parents and service providers. In such a situation
conflict is inevitable. The rising rate of anecdotal reports of stressed parents,
children’s behaviour issues and studies on childhood depression (Harvard
University, 2002) coupled with high staff turnover in child related
occupations are not a coincidence.
In a letter to London’s Daily Telegraph in September, 110 teachers,
psychologists and children’s authors called on the British Government to
prevent “the death of childhood”.
The letter alerted politicians to the need to appreciate and maintain
opportunities for children to be exposed to first hand experiences of the
world, regular interaction with significant adults , active play and time to
just be.
The letter goes on to elaborate “ In a fast moving hyper competitive world
culture, today’s children are expected to cope with an ever earlier start to
formal schoolwork and an overly academic test driven primary curriculum.
They are pushed by market forces to act and dress like mini adults and
exposed via the electronic media to material which would have been
considered unsuitable for children even in the very recent past”.
The earliest information, only recently published, makes a link between play
deprivation and anti-social behaviour (Brown, 1998). A study of 26 young
murderers identified that normal play behaviour was virtually absent
throughout the lives of these men regardless of demography. The study
concluding that play deprivation in children results in social and personal
breakdown in adults.
We are facing a generation of children experiencing play deprivation.
Increasing demand for technological literacy and the belief that a virtual
world is safer to play in than the real world further removes play
opportunities from the lives of our children. The "domestication of
childhood" is upon us, increasingly removing adventure, risk and the
capacity to develop life skills. Aptly described by Mercogliano (2007) as
“threatening to smother the spark that animates each child with talents,
dreams, and inclinations”.
Stuart Brown, president of the American Institute for Play and a practising
Psychiatrist first recognized the importance of play by discovering its
absence in the life stories of murderers and felony drunken drivers attending
his clinical practice. Brown concluded that play seems necessary as an
antidote to the development of violent tendencies as well as a partner to
effective socialization. In addition he identified play as active in the shaping
of an individuals sense of self and therefore directly related to mental health
Play is therefore a catalyst for the development and maintenance of
successful communities.
In accepting this argument a successful community should then be measured
on the ability for its children to actively engage in a 3 dimensional world of
play, where play is respected, honored and recognized as an integral
component of a child’s day not an add on if there is time. A successful
community where children have the opportunity to create and explore using
all five senses is a healthy community.
Thus the importance of creating successful communities for the future must
rely heavily on fighting the institutionalisation of our children and provision
of opportunities for every child to experience the benefits of pure,
unadulterated play.
Out of School Hours Services have the potential to create incredible
outcomes dependent on their engagement and advocacy for play.
A quality out of school hours service where free play is encouraged and
supported, where children have opportunities to experiment, to make
choices, where process is more important than product, will be an incubator
for the successful community of the future.
Isn’t that worth fighting for?
References
Brown, S. L. 1998 "Play as an organising principle:clinical evidence and
personal observations", in
Marc Bekoff and John A. Byers (Eds) Animal Play. Evolutionary,
Comparative and Ethological
Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mercogliano, C. 2007 ”In Defence of Childhood; Protecting Kids inner
wilderness” Boston: Beacon Press.
Harvard Mental Health Newsletter, February 2002
Hughes, B. 2007 “Play Then and Now”
WHAT IS PLAY?
CHILDREN are the foundation of the world's future.
CHILDREN have played at all times throughout history and in all
cultures.
PLAY, along with the basic needs of nutrition, health, shelter and
education, is vital to develop the potential of all children.
PLAY is communication and expression, combining thought and action; it
gives satisfaction and a feeling of achievement.
PLAY is instinctive, voluntary, and spontaneous.
PLAY helps children develop physically, mentally, emotionally and
socially.
PLAY is a means of learning to live, not a mere passing of time.
International Play Association, definition of Play www.ipaworld.org