Like all young children, a child enjoys the pleasure of play. However, many people have different views on play and what it is used for. First of all, many parents and teachers think that play is beneficial to young children in many ways. It teaches them basic skills they need to learn in life such as cooking or housekeeping. This type of role play helps exercise their creativity and serves as a “rehearsal for adult life” (Lester and Russell). It provides them with the skills needed for them to grow as independent adults. Say, a child is pretending to run a grocery store. Another child comes by the store and picks up an empty carton of milk. Children often experiment with numbers and prices and manipulate them to either create a sense of
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This is partly due to the fact that children spend a lot of time doing academics both during and after school. Standardized tests replaces play in the classroom to enforce reading and writing skills. Play is sometimes viewed as a “mere passing of time” (Lester and Russell) because of its casual appearance, the incorporation of happiness/laughter, and the sense of enjoyment while playing, versus the thought of academics, where there is actually meaningful context to be taught and everybody is sitting still and listening. Another reason why people think that play is a waste of time is because of the lack of space in their environment. People who do not have a lot of living space often do not have a lot of play space for their children. Therefore, when the children are trying to utilize their only little space to play, they often get stopped by their parents, saying that “there is no room” or “this is not a place to play”. This causes the absence of play in small environments to conserve space …show more content…
There never will be one definite answer to whether play is helpful, but for now, both play and academics should be evenly dispersed throughout the lives of our children, for they need both a sense of knowledge and a sense of adequate leisure to live a full and happy life.
Works Cited
Lester, Stuart, and Wendy Russell. “ Working Papers in Early Childhood Development: Children’s Right to Play.” Trassig.
“The Child's Right to Play Home » Child's Right to Play » The Child's Right to Play.”International Play Association, ipaworld.org/childs-right-to-play/the-childs-right-to-play/.
Arnold, Johann Christoph. “A Child's Right to Play.” Plough, www.plough.com/en/topics/community/education/a-childs-right-to-play.
Ricasata, Jo-Anmarie Cadiz. A Child’s Right to Play: A Therapeutic Landscape for Shriner’s Hospital for Children. humanecology.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk161/files/inline-files/JCRicasata.pdf.
Bekoff, Marc. “The Child's Right to Play: Let Children Be Animals.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 13 Aug. 2011,
This is partly due to the fact that children spend a lot of time doing academics both during and after school. Standardized tests replaces play in the classroom to enforce reading and writing skills. Play is sometimes viewed as a “mere passing of time” (Lester and Russell) because of its casual appearance, the incorporation of happiness/laughter, and the sense of enjoyment while playing, versus the thought of academics, where there is actually meaningful context to be taught and everybody is sitting still and listening. Another reason why people think that play is a waste of time is because of the lack of space in their environment. People who do not have a lot of living space often do not have a lot of play space for their children. Therefore, when the children are trying to utilize their only little space to play, they often get stopped by their parents, saying that “there is no room” or “this is not a place to play”. This causes the absence of play in small environments to conserve space …show more content…
There never will be one definite answer to whether play is helpful, but for now, both play and academics should be evenly dispersed throughout the lives of our children, for they need both a sense of knowledge and a sense of adequate leisure to live a full and happy life.
Works Cited
Lester, Stuart, and Wendy Russell. “ Working Papers in Early Childhood Development: Children’s Right to Play.” Trassig.
“The Child's Right to Play Home » Child's Right to Play » The Child's Right to Play.”International Play Association, ipaworld.org/childs-right-to-play/the-childs-right-to-play/.
Arnold, Johann Christoph. “A Child's Right to Play.” Plough, www.plough.com/en/topics/community/education/a-childs-right-to-play.
Ricasata, Jo-Anmarie Cadiz. A Child’s Right to Play: A Therapeutic Landscape for Shriner’s Hospital for Children. humanecology.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk161/files/inline-files/JCRicasata.pdf.
Bekoff, Marc. “The Child's Right to Play: Let Children Be Animals.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 13 Aug. 2011,