Organizing Kids to Do What Used to Just Happen

Last Thursday, Washington Post children’s sports columnist Fred Bowen joined the many adults who are calling for allowing our children more free play in his article “More Play, less Play Station” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/15/AR201009...). In it, he wondered why we had to have a special play day, which was last Saturday, September 18—a day in which communities organize a day when kids and parents can play outdoors at a park, school, playground, or open space. Bowen concluded, as have many others, that modern kids are spending too much time on computer games and organized sports. He certainly is not against sports; in fact, he loves them; he has coached more than 30 teams. He asked parents and coaches to allow more free play by team members and less drilling on specific sports skills.

Earlier this year, in a presentation on amateur and professional sports trends, I spoke of an effort called Sandlot Day 2010 sponsored by the State University of New York Youth Sports Institute, to get kids to play sandlot baseball again. The important point was the kids were to be in charge. This is another example of adults’ needing an organizational effort to get kids to engage in free play.

I believe our children’s lives have become so organized and scripted that efforts like Play Day and Sandlot Day are needed just to get kids on the road to what I used to do as a child without any adult help. In fact, my parents and my friends’ parents expected we would play independently making up our own games and rules, and we did. I wonder how many kids today have played “Monkey at the Bat” which you could do with only two or three. Following these “organized free play” days, I wonder if today’s parents will be able to let go and encourage the kids to do so on their own. I am very pessimistic that this will happen on any large scale.

I am not alone in believing that today’s lack of free play, especially outdoor free play, is harming our children physically as a result of their not being sufficiently active, socially by not letting them learn the social skills involved in working with each other without adult supervision and psychologically by stifling children’s imaginations. Unfortunately, as Fred Bowen points out, organized sports—too many of them for too much time—is a culprit and parents’ unwisely thinking organized sports is the route to a college scholarship or even engaging in competitive parenting are accomplices.

The future for our children can be better if the many independent voices advocating for allowing our children more time for free play and to be themselves would join forces in a public education effort to change current parenting, extra-curricular activity (especially youth sports) practices and educational practice (especially recess and PE time).