Playtime Is Growtime

For this toddler it is a time of exploration. Powered by a lively curiosity, she pulls and tugs on everything in the house. If the house is not childproof, mother will be crying “no-no” and slapping tiny hands, and in the process curbing curiosity​—the same curiosity that can make the child successful in school and in later life. Be protective but not overprotective. More freedom comes outdoors in a park, where a pipe may become a tunnel through a mountain or a cave for Mama bear and Baby bear to live in.

A few years later, imagination flourishes. A packing crate becomes a home for playing house, a chair is the driver’s seat of a car, a broomstick is a fiery steed to gallop to someone’s rescue. A sandbox, with pots and pans and a bucket of water, offers endless opportunities. While parental supervision of play is important, it need not always be structured or organized but can respond to the mood of the moment. On impulse, small children become cowboys, soaring airplanes, doctors and nurses, papas and mamas, astronauts, and roaring bulldozers​—all in the space of half an hour.

Play is essential for the development of children. To rob a child of proper playtime and the materials for it is to limit his growth of mind and body, emotions and spirit.