PLAYTIME IS PERFECT TIME
We all need to have some fun
We are officially three weeks into the school-year routine and, for many, that also means a new adult routine. Despite the fact many people don’t have entire summers off, vacation time often brings down time to organizations — which means adults are also enduring a period of adjustment and transition this fall.
As we shift our focus from long, lazy summer days to hitting the books and third-quarter budget talks, professional play researcher Lynn Campanella says that it is important we also remember to play — children, teenagers and adults.
“Play is important throughout all stages in life, because conscious play time actually allows us to get more done,” Campanella explains. “When you stop playing, you start living in a constant state of stress.”
Reports of increases in mental health issues are nothing new.
Recently, the National College Health Assessment released its 2016 findings for Canadian students, who reported stress, anxiety and sleep problems as the top factors affecting their performance.
In this current landscape, it is not surprising that stress levels are increasing. What is interesting is what is being done about it.
A new course out of the University of New Brunswick, called Pathway to Coping, aims to build competencies in healthy and effective stress management.
The course is available to anyone, but marketed to organizations for their employees in the understanding that stress negatively affects engagement. The course focuses on developing resiliency, self-confidence, energy, positive thinking and leadership from within — all competencies that Campanella says are nurtured through play.
“Allowing play to happen is important, because it ignites creativity and allows children to learn about problem solving in an organic way. Play is so important for young children because it teaches problem-solving skills.
“You are in a safe enough environment that you can try something, take it apart, problem-solve and choose something different. Play gives you the courage and confidence to know that you can problem solve your own successes.”
What also makes play special in life is that it is voluntary. It is something that we want to do — and, in a world where we feel so many things that have to be done, it is liberating and good for the soul to do something purely for enjoyment.
“Play is a set of behaviours that are freely chosen, personally directed and intrinsically motivated,” Campanella says.
“We choose to play, and we are meant to play from cradle to grave.”
She highlights three stages of life and the importance of playing during each.
PLAY FOR KIDS
Children should spend lots of time playing outside. When you are playing outside in risky but not dangerous play, you have the freedom to take risks, as small as that is — and to be adventuresome, which teaches independence and freethinking, which increases confidence. Scraped knees, bumps and bruises are a good thing — they are a part of life.
If we bubble-wrap our kids they will always be afraid of life. Kids need to lose, they need to get hurt, they need to have things not go their way.
PLAY FOR TEENS
“For a teenager, play can be very physical where it’s more of a competitive thing,” Campanella says.
“It can be very sport-oriented. For girls from the age of 16 to 19, activity can go down dramatically because of the competitiveness. The fear of being humiliated prevents them; not the fear of failure but the fear of humiliation. Therefore, active play decreases for many during this time of life.”
So how can teens, especially young women, broaden their horizon of play? Campanella says they can “give themselves permission to be silly. Everyone is so concerned about looking good. There needs to be a focus on trying things, not succeeding but just trying new things. Social play is important because at that age, friends are so important. They need to just try new things — start a renaissance group — try absolutely everything. Find ways to be social and be silly.”
PLAY FOR ADULTS
Adult play is something that is unappreciated. It goes unnoticed and unappreciated until it is missing — like oxygen. We feel we have too many responsibilities; it isn’t professional. But adults have to play in order to be successful. We need to take timeouts. It helps us to control and release our stress, it helps refresh our mind and body, it encourages teamwork, helps us to problem-solve, triggers creativity and imagination and prevents burnout. As adults, especially when our play becomes competitive, we can lose those social skills so it is important to hone and refine them.
“Think about that quote by Plato,” says Campanella. “We learn more about a person in one hour of play than a whole year of conversation.”
She says that learning to fail is central to character development.
“Failure is essential. It is not that we’ve lost — it is just success that has not happened yet.
“You cannot find any great inventor or anyone who has done something phenomenal that has not had many failures before success kicked in. The best way that we learn is by doing something wrong — and play teaches us that.”
Campanella encourages parents to include the topic of play in their conversations at the end of the day.
“It is not a frivolous topic. It is a doorway to understanding your child’s social life. Ask questions like, ‘Who did you play with? What did you like best about recess? What new game did you play or show your friends? Did you play with somebody new? Were you the best person you could be on the recess playground?’ Meaning, ‘Were you mean to somebody?’ And, ‘Were you mean to somebody because you wanted to be a bigger person in front of your friends?’ ”
Unstructured, unsupervised play time is just as important to your day as studying, drilling down and checking things off the to-do list.
In fact, research has proven students retain more information and have more energy when they take breaks during the day.
So as you get back to the grind this September, remember to schedule some time for good old-fashioned play and goofing around, and if you endure any shameful ‘tsk-tsking’ for your antics, simply acknowledge that you are fully intentional and are actually working very hard.