Modern Lifestyle Killing Mental and Physical Growth of Children

Growth and development is a continuous process that initiates at an early stage of life. A child is like a blackboard where thoughts are camouflaged and dreams are made and actions to achieve them get real. If guided in the right direction then the sky is the limit and one can fly boundaries and achieve even the impossible. Play is an important thing in children’s life. Play lays the foundation for literacy. Children learn to make and practice dynamic things through play. Like they learn vocabulary, on their own or with friends, and exercise their imagination skills through storytelling. Play on the other hand is equivalent to learning. It nurtures development and fulfills a baby’s inborn need to learn. It takes many forms, from shaking a rattle to peek-a-boo to hide-and-seek.

It encourages adults to communicate with the children in their lives. Adults support play by giving children opportunities to play, and by knowing when to intervene, and when not to intervene. It provides children the chance to be spontaneous. You may think your child should be rolling the truck on the ground but that doesn’t mean that truck is not equally useful as a stacking toy. It provides children a choice. Having enough toys or activities to choose from will allow children to express themselves. It creates environment for children where they can practice physical movement, balance and to test their limits. It is also helpful for teaching adult’s patience and understanding.  If you do choose to join in your child’s play make sure that you do not try to take it over and force incorporation of your ultimate learning objectives into their play. Structured adult-led activities have their time and place but remember to allow for time for children to control and decide their own play. Playing is fun. Learning to play well, both by themselves and with others, sets children up to be contented and sociable. In the complex lifestyle where time is of essence and things are getting more and more demanding, parents need to schedule time for children to play as it nourishes their simplicity and helps them to learn and grow. Parents are the real role model and there is no learning that can compensate to the lack of quality time thus it is the duty of the parents to not only fulfill physical needs but also spend quality time and make children do activities of their interest by being a part of it. So as a parent one must plunge out of the comfort zone and get involved in physical enduring activities with their children as they not only contribute to bodily growth but also results into overall development of a child.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/08/kids-are-so-busy-that-doctors-are-telling-them-to-schedule-playtime/