An IPA Declaration on the Importance of Play – IPA EWNI ...



An IPA Declaration on the Importance of Play – IPA EWNI – DRAFT September 2013Overall in the many parts of the world there is a lack of understanding of the value of play, whereby it allocated a trivial part of children’s lives or dismissed as a necessary distraction from ‘more important’ activities such as getting an education and preparedness for adult life and work.Play is in fact, a vital and fundamental part of the human experience; an essential process that has evolved to help develop sane and healthy children, able to function in the culture and society in which they are born.Children’s play is behaviour, activity, or processes initiated, controlled and structured by children themselves and it takes place whenever and wherever opportunities arise. Caregivers may contribute to the creation of environments in which it takes place, but play itself is non-compulsory, driven by intrinsic motivation and is undertaken for its own sake, rather than as a means to an end. It involves the exercise of autonomy, physical, mental or emotional activity, and has the potential to take infinite forms, either in groups or alone. These forms will change and adapt throughout the course of childhood. The key characteristics of play are fun, uncertainty, challenge, flexibility and non-productivity. Together, these factors contribute to the enjoyment it produces and the consequent incentive to continue to play. General Comment No. 17 (2013) on UNCRC Article 31Context statement The General Comment No. 17 (2013) on UNCRC Article 31 announced in April 2013 was a welcome reminder of the right of children to rest, leisure, play, recreational activities, cultural life and the arts. However IPA’s focus in on children’s right to play and so has prepared this Declaration on the Importance of Play.Building on the General Comment, we discuss and evidence the statements on play’s purpose and benefits, in an attempt to educate and advise those who feel that play is only a trivial or unnecessary distraction from ‘more important’ activities such as getting an education and preparedness for adult life and work. This Declaration on the Importance of Play aims to show the substantial evidence that has arisen mostly in the last twenty years, showing how fundamental and vital play is to children and therefore society and our species. Furthermore, the Declaration highlights the growing evidence of the effects of play deprivation and the serious and life-long effects on children’s bodies and minds. We wish to alert the wider community to this evidence and call for action to address this deprivation before further damage is done to our children.The Declaration on the Importance of Play reaffirms IPA’s stated aim and intent to:Protect the right to play Preserve the right to play Promote the right to playGeneral comment No. 17 Summary statementDiscussion on the Importance of PlayEvidenceWhile play is often considered non-essential, it is a fundamental and vital dimension of the pleasure of childhood Play is a fundamental part of life; it is a biological, social, cognitive necessity for individual children, but also has benefits for society and the human species.We often contrast ‘play’ behaviour with ‘serious’ behaviour, but perhaps the truth is that we would be better off treating play as the most serious aspect of all our activities. Morris (1977:270)Play is an essential component of physical development Play contributes to efficient and effective muscular growth, physical health and wellbeing.Harlow (1971); (Brown, 1998); Sutton-Smith (1997); Stevens and Price (2000)Byers (1998)Mackett (2004)Matthews, Kilgour , De Rossi, & Crone (2011) Play is an essential component of social developmentPlay contributes to the understanding, development and maintenance of valued relationships with others. Playful interactions with others help in understanding relationships and attachment, language, roles and social structures.Play is older than culture, for culture however inadequately defined, always presupposes human society, and animals (and children) have not waited for man to teach them how to play. Huizinga (1950)Language acquisition is epigenetic. Edelman (2007:154)Pellis (1998)Play is an essential component of cognitive development Play is the way humans develop more efficient brains; it enhances cortical connections and neural organisation; when humans play, the nerve signals the body generates create pathways in the brain that help with brain development and brain plasticity (flexibility).Byers (1998) Brown (1998); Sutton-Smith (2007) Damasio (2000); Brown (1998) Edelman (2006); Pellis and Pellis (2009)Play contributes to developing ‘effective systems for learning’ rather than particular learning outcomes. By playing children learn what works and what does not; it is creative, flexible and adaptable.Burghardt (2005), quoted in Lester and Russell (2008:128)Smith (2010:217) quotes Panksepp as saying, ‘play is quintessentially capable of activating the very best that the [brain] is capable of’.Play helps with the development of flexible, adaptive strategies to the problems that life offers children. Understanding that life is not always ‘fair’ or ‘good’ helps children to ‘roll with the punches’ of life and develop resilience. Play helps children develop resilience to deal with stressful or traumatic events and optimism for the future. Burghardt (2005)Siviy (1998); Bruner (1972); Sylva (1976); Konner (2010)Masten (2001); Rutter (2006); Lester and Russell (2008)Play contributes to resilience and problem solving; Sutton-Smith (2003); Pellis and Pellis (2009)Play is an essential component of emotional regulationPlay is pleasurable; it gives enjoyment, satisfaction and ‘fun’ in the moment of playing – it is a valued part of childhood.Play aids emotional regulation, by helping children understand and moderate primary emotions (anger, fear, disgust, shock, sadness and joy) into more nuanced and subtle forms (grief, pleasure, displeasure, affection, contentment, exasperation, disappointment).Positive emotions can help with both physical and psychological health issues by promoting resilience, endurance and optimism Salovey and others (2000); quoted in Lester and Russell (2008:128). Damasio (2003); Pellis and Pellis (2009); Spinka et al. (2001); Sutton-Smith (2003); quoted in Lester and Russell (2010)Play is an essential component of spiritual developmentPlay is chaotic and transformative; it helps children be spontaneous, highly creative, original, and open. Playing connects to ‘threshold experiences’ and opens up ‘worlds of possibility’ that children recognise as mysterious and ‘magical’.The pleasure of play has been recognised as contributing to many things; feeling good helps with ‘flexible thinking and problem solving, mastery and optimism’ (Frederickson 2006, Isen and Reeve 2006, Pressman and Cohen 2005; quoted in Lester and Russell 2008:128)Goleman (1996); Gordon and Esbjorn-Hargens (2007)Flinn 2006 quoted in Lester and Russell (2010:21)Children’s play is behaviour, activity, or processes initiated, controlled and structured by children themselves Play is self-chosen, if not freely chosen, for without active choice and engagement the activity is empty and reduced in meaning and significance.Play helps children experience control over their world (Sutton-Smith 1997; Gordon and Esbjorn-Hargens 2007)UNICEF (2007) reported that UK children were the unhappiest in the westernised world.Play takes place whenever and wherever opportunities ariseChildren can and will play everywhere, a rich environment for play includes natural elements; choice of materials; opportunities for risk and challenge; chances for movement; places to express emotions; stimulation for the senses; playing with identity; chances for social interactions; newness and change; interesting and varied physical and human environment and ‘sufficient’ space to do what is wanted.‘The econiche in which animals must survive has an enormous number of signals to which an individual must adapt’ Edelman 2007:102 ‘A rich environment’ after Hughes (1996)Orr (2002)Play itself is non-compulsory, driven by intrinsic motivation Playing is a process, not an activity; for example, simply moving the body helps with muscular growth, playing helps children with flexibility, agility, balance and coordination.The drive to play is innate; it is a process that has evolved to help with the development of bodies, relationships and minds.‘The brain is a self-organising and adaptive system. It is self-organizing in the sense that at most stages of development it selects appropriate input for its own further development’ (Johnson 2008:5)Play is undertaken for its own sake, rather than as a means to an endPlay increases the possibilities for flow – performing an activity fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. Satisfaction through play is defined by the player, with no extrinsic goals. Csikszentmihalyi (1988)Play is undertaken for the pleasure it affords (Pellis and Pellis 2009) ‘There is no purpose to the child’s life other than the pleasure of living it. It is not the child, in other words, who believes in something called development.’ Phillips (1998:21) Play involves the exercise of autonomyPlaying is a child’s first free, open, boundless, and self-controlled activity; through play children discover the differences between themselves, others and the world in which they live. These discoveries help them become individuals and independent, self-sufficient and autonomous.Autonomy is something that people seek and that improves their lives. A sense of autonomy has a powerful effect on individual performance and attitude. Pink (2010:90)‘The child’s freedom... depends upon being able to treat orders and instructions as though they were also hints and suggestions; as open invitations rather than merely prescriptions.’ Philips (1998:90)Play is physical, mental or emotional activityPlay takes many forms, replicating the evolution of play through bodily actions, social interactions and the development of symbolic thinking. Children will play more in environments that afford opportunities for these various types of play.‘There are two main modes of thought – pattern recognition and logic… the primary mode, giving enormous range in confronting novelty, is pattern recognition.’ Edelman (2007:103).Lester and Maudsley (2006)Play has the potential to take infinite forms, either in groups or aloneThe human species is attracted to newness, humans are neophilic – curious, with a desire for new experiences – and neotenous, where humans remain ‘as children’ as they become adult. This gives humans a capacity to find stimulation and interest in everything around them; children need varied and stimulating environments and experiences in order to thrive, in adults this playful drive is translated in creative and innovative activities.Neophilia – ‘Our basic nature is to be curious and self-directed’ – and if as adults we are, ‘passive and inert, that’s not because it’s our nature. It’s because something flipped our default setting’ Pink (2010:89).The brain is attracted to new activities and ‘tasks at which [children] are only partially successful and motivated to persist until they have achieved mastery’ Pink (2010:89). It is as if the brain directs the growing children to seek out new experiences and new ways of doing things, and these varied activities help build stronger links in the brain (see above). We [humans] had an intense curiosity that led us from our small tribal beginnings to conquer the whole surface of the planet in only a few thousand years – an amazing achievement for any animal species. The way we acquired this massively increased dose of curiosity was by becoming more childlike in our behaviour. It is an evolutionary process called neoteny and it sees a species retaining its infantile qualities into adult life. Where other primates abandon their juvenile playfulness as they become adult, we keep ours and develop it into sophisticated forms of ‘adult play’. It is this adult play that has, over the centuries, given us all our greatest human achievements. Without it, we would be spending our time eating, mating, fighting, sleeping and cleaning ourselves. With it, we also have art, literature, music, theatre, sport, science and technology. Morris (2005)Play forms will change and adapt throughout the course of childhood. Children have different and varied play needs throughout childhood and pubescence; environments offer endless variety and stimulation to children.Play Deprivation – What happens when children do not play?What happens when children do not play?Discussion on the Importance of Play – Play DeprivationEvidenceThere is a risk serious impairment with: connection to others, symbolic thinking, empathy, sanity, exercise and pleasurePlay Deprivation is the name given to the concept that not playing may deprive children of experiences that are regarded as developmentally essential and result in those affected being physically, cognitively and socially disabled.Play Deprivation is highly detrimental to affected children, communities and society as a whole, and could result in significant increases in the symptoms of play deprivation and other pathologies among the young. Although human data on the impact of not playing is rare, the findings of the studies that do exist, give cause for concern.Cited from Play Wales Play Deprivation PlayEducation (2003)Children are more likely to become violent and antisocialIf normal play experiences are absent the child is more likely to become highly violent and antisocial.Brown and Lomax (1969), in Brown (1998)Children are more likely to repressed emotions and social skillsIf children are kept in and not allowed out to play, are likely to manifest symptoms ranging from aggression and repressed emotions and social skills, to an increased risk of obesity.Huttenmoser et al (1995)Children are more likely to expeince depressionContinuous sensory deprivation causes symptoms ranging from depression and withdrawal to a gradual loss of all electrical activity in the brain, and affects other factors – lack of human contact and other forms of sensory deprivation.Tobin , 1997); Huttenlocher (1990, 1992)Children are more likely to have reduced brain sizeIf children do not play, then their brains will not grow as they should.Byers, 1998); Brown et al (2001)Gopnik, Meltzoff and Kuhl (1999)Children are more likely to display aggressive and bizarre behaviourWhen deprived of play animals show highly aggressive and bizarre behaviour and appear to completely lose touch with the social norms and accepted behaviour.Suomi and Harlow (1971); van den Berg et al (2001) Children have an increased risk of obesityAdults reporting environmental restrictions on play (e.g. having less time to play) are more likely to be overweight and have less healthy lifestyles. Walking and playing provide children [aged 11-13] with more physical activity than most other activities.Cassidy, Rushe and Giles (2010)Matthews N, Kilgour L, De Rossi P, & Crone D (2011WHO/FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation - US) (2002)Mackett (2004)The number of children in England with a body mass index over 30 (the definition of obesity) has tripled in the last 20 years (Crown Copyright 2003)Children are more likely to have no fun and be unhappyPlay is clearly pleasurable and joyous for children; it contributes to positive emotion and is a recognised and valued part of childhood that is increasingly being denied or curtailed by the actions of adults and society. UNICEF (2007) reported that UK children were the unhappiest in the westernised world The effects of changed behaviour are likely to affect humans for several generationsThe study of human genetic material (epigenetics) has shown that the effects of deprivation on one generation can ‘echo’ though subsequent generations; there is a great danger that the effects of the current changes in society and the environment will have a lasting impact on our children and their children, thus affecting the whole species.In some countries play is considered trivial or dismissed as a unnecessary distraction from ‘more important’ activitiesIn summary, overall in the much of the world there is a lack of understanding of the value of play, whereby it allocated a trivial part of children’s lives or dismissed as a unnecessary distraction from ‘more important’ activities such as getting an education and preparedness for adult life and work.Play is a vital and fundamental part of the human experience; an essential process that has evolved to help develop sane and healthy children, able to function in the culture and society in which they are born. ................
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