Crucial Minutiae

What’s wrong with kidz these days?

Well, for one thing, it seems that they are not getting enough playtime. In fact, kidz today get 8-12 fewer hours of weekly playtime on average than they did in the 1980s, according to USA Today. This trend has caused considerable alarm among developmental psychologists who note the importance of playtime for healthy child development.

Some experts assert that lack of playtime is producing “a generation of socially inept young people” and can lead to “high rates of youth obesity, anxiety, attention-deficit disorder and depression.”

To combat recess restrictions, the National Parent Teacher Association launched the Rescue Recess campaign in 2006 along with advocates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Education Association (believe it or not, the campaign is also co-sponsored by the Cartoon Network without a hint of irony).

But why do we need to rescue recess in the first place? Why is recess at risk?

Here’s a quick list of reasons:

• Parents’ fears of abduction or injury have made them reluctant to let their kidz play outside on their own; at the same time, scheduled lessons, supervised sports and other structured activities are gaining in popularity and eating up the hours in a day.

• Kidz are watching more TV, playing video games, using the Internet and chatting on cellphones.

• Preschools have become more focused on formal learning and elementary school students have more homework than in the past.

• Due to school budget cuts and an increased emphasis on academics, nearly 40 percent of American elementary schools have either eliminated or are considering eliminating recess*.

Sadly, this lack of playtime may be undermining other efforts to improve student learning. In addition to improving their health and social skills, free playtime helps children develop their ability to think in the abstract and encourages them to develop their own, original ideas.

Apparently, all work and no play makes Jack unimaginative, close-minded, socially awkward, fat, anxious, inattentive and depressed.

*You can view the source for this stat here.
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Kidz Today is a column about youth and education by Joie Jager-Hyman.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 at 1:21 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.