Do you believe everything should be structured in a child's life or should they have free time?4/29/2022
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Regardless of what I or anyone else believes what you should be interested in is what the best evidence shows. That evidence seems to indicate that not everything in a child’s life should be structured. There should be plenty of time for free play, even as the child gets older. There are several good resources on this subject which I will list below. What developmental psychologists recognize is that free play is an important part of the growing and learning process. Just as importantly, research now seems to show that over-scheduling with kids has many of the same effects we see in adults: stress, anxiety, and unhappiness. But, in kids, these effects can be even more pronounced. In the race to help our children succeed we are doing many things that are often developmentally inappropriate. Training children to read early, learn how to multiply, divide, compute, white papers, and more seem to have short-term benefits. But, many of these are overshadowed by longer-term problems. In addition, the short-term benefits often erode over time, and kids who seem to be far ahead early end up roughly where their peers are at later. Of course, learning and structured activities are good for kids but they need to be developmentally appropriate and, in the case of extracurricular activities, they should be chosen by the kids not forced by the parents for the sake of advancement or other lessons that can be learned. Kids enjoy free time. It allows them to be creative, think, learn, and develop. So, just as important as enjoyment, kids need free time. Develop and learning are not usually linear actives. There will be spurts of growth and learning. Sometimes, it will seem as if nothing is happening. It’s at periods like that when parents often begin to push structure fearing that a lack of structure means a lack of learning and development. But, what is going on just below the surface during these unstructured times is important and necessary. Here are a few good books that outline the latest findings regarding these issues: Peter Gray Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life Angela Hanscomb Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children Stuart Brown Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul A2A on Quora
One of the most useful skills to have is the ability to learn something on your own. Often, schools do not teach this skill. Instead, teachers assume that students either know how to learn or can figure it out. Schools should be in the business of developing self-teaching as a skill. When you graduate you should not see that as the end of your schooling and learning as many students do, but instead you should believe that you have been sufficiently prepared to be able to learn for yourself. But, usually, it takes some insight and deliberate practice in order to be able to self-teach. Fortunately, there are resources available that can help. There are a number of books available which discuss how people learn and also provide specific skills in order to improve your ability to self-learn. Some excellent resources would include the following books: Benedict Carey How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why it Happens Michael Syed Black Box Thinking: Why Some People Never Learn From Their Mistakes Tom Vanderbilt Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning Blake Boles The Art of Self-Directed Learning: 23 Tips for Giving Yourself an Unconventional Education Guy Claxton Wise Up: The Challenge of Lifelong Learning Ellen Langer The Power of Mindful Learning |