Why independent play is important in child development
Does your child play alone? Find out why independent play is beneficial for their child development.
All children are born with the ability to imagine and create … It is the parents’ duty that this be maintained and not lost along the way. In this sense, it is important to promote independent play so that children encourage their creativity every day. Nowadays, imagination and creativity are affected by so much screen and sedentary life that culture encourages.
Playing freely and independently is the key for children to foster their imagination and creativity, so that in this way they do not have to follow instructions. When children are taught it is not play, it is learning. The game, on the other hand, provides a certain self-learning thanks to the imagination and creativity .
Unfortunately, the adult world does not respect playtime and that can be a problem for child development. Time is well spent learning, but also playing. Independent play is important to a child’s sense of identity and is necessary for parents as well. In fact, there are many parents who do not have help from other close people and children’s independent playtime can allow them, for example, to cook. Kids don’t have to be in front of a screen to have this guy, new tech is no babysitter! Instead, independent playtime is a wonderful time that should be enhanced.
Culture is slowly eliminating this kind of childhood game when it should be empowering it . We no longer respect wasted time lost in the game and therefore we are losing the game. We fear that if they are not taught shapes, colors, the alphabet … or if what they are doing cannot be documented and evaluated, then it is not time well spent.
Index
PLAY SPACE
Passive toys encourage active play. In this sense, forget all those toys full of batteries so that they do not stop making noises and lights … it is better that you focus on toys with blocks or dolls without movement. In this way children will be able to create their own fascinating scenarios when they are not programmed to sit quietly and look only.
You will need a space where they can safely play alone, a child-proof place! If you are constantly thinking about not getting hurt, you will interrupt their game over and over again. In this sense, the best thing is that you can allow a safe place where there are no dangers and your children can play without problems. But even if they are alone playing, you must be careful that everything goes well. You can even choose to put a baby monitor on them to make sure everything is fine even if you are in another room.
AGE-APPROPRIATE TOYS
If you want to encourage independent play to promote good child development , you will want to offer them toys that are appropriate for their age. If you give him a puzzle that is too complicated, he will get frustrated and will not be able to do it. In addition, this frustration can also cause the child to not want to try other things that may seem complicated in the future just because they are not wrong.
More complicated toys or games are best kept until you are playing with them. This way you can help them understand how they work.
BE CAREFUL WITH EXPECTATIONS
If you think that your child will not know how to do it or is not interested in playing alone , then you will be communicating through those expectations that he is not really capable of playing by himself. Your expectations can often turn into self-fulfilling prophecies. For this reason, trust more in the possibilities of your child to play alone and thus enhance the creativity and imagination that he has since he was born … do not destroy his understanding just by believing that he is not capable of doing it alone or that he needs you! for all!
Dr. Tabriella Perivolaris, Sara's mother and fan of fashion, beauty, motherhood, among others, about the female universe. Since 2018 she has been working as a copywriter, always bringing to her articles a little of her experience and experience as a mother and woman.