Imaginative play helps children learn self-control

National Public Radio reports that imaginative play helps children learn self-control. According to the report, children today are not learning the self-regulation skills they used to, because imaginative play is being squeezed out by television, video games, and organized activities. Here are some highlights from the report...

"For most of human history, children played by roaming near or far in packs large and small. Younger children were supervised by older children and engaged in freewheeling imaginative play. They were pirates and princesses, aristocrats and heroes.

But, while all that play might have looked a lot like time spent doing nothing much at all, it actually helped build a critical cognitive skill called executive function. Executive function has a number of elements, such as working memory and cognitive flexibility. But perhaps the most important is self-regulation — the ability for kids to control their emotions and behavior, resist impulses, and exert self-control and discipline....

Unfortunately, play has changed dramatically during the past half-century, and according to many psychological researchers, the play that kids engage in today does not help them build executive function skills. Kids spend more time in front of televisions and video games. When they aren't in front of a screen, they often spend their time in leagues and lessons...when kids are in leagues and lessons, they are usually being regulated by adults. That means they are not able to practice regulating themselves.

'As a result, Leong says, 'kids aren't developing the self-regulation skills that they used to.'"

Click here to read the full NPR report, "Creative Play Makes for Kids in Control." Click here for a related NPR report, "Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills."