This Month's Feature - The Importance of Playtime

By Karen Casey

 Music, ballet, swimming, gym – the list of lessons available to children is endless, but is a jam-packed schedule really right for children and their parents?

When it comes to structured and unstructured, play experts agree on two issues: parents should not feel guilty for sending or not sending their children to extra-curricula activities; and, like anything in life, balance is best.

Melbourne University Early Learning Centre director Jan Deans said there is a place for both structured play, such as music lessons or kindergarten, and unstructured play at home or in the backyard. The secret is finding a happy balance that suits the individual child.

“There is a tendency to put down a blanket view and say all children need these classes,” Ms Deans said. “I have five children and they were all different. A couple could cope with many activities and a couple could not cope.

“Parents need to look closely at their children’s temperament to see what is appropriate.”

Research has shown that children in high quality early childhood care environments have better language and cognitive skills and have an easier transition to school. At the same time, Ms Deans said a lot of learning can go on when a child is simply left to explore the trees in their own backyard.

Kindergarten Parents Victoria Chief Executive Officer Meredith Carter said learning and play could successfully be combined. By extending a child’s interests, parents and teachers could achieve educative outcomes and that happy balance.

“If you have a child pulling bark off the tree you can talk to them about the insects under the bark and draw their attention to the life going on inside the tree in a way the child might not have observed otherwise,” Ms Carter said.

“It’s not good to do things that a child isn’t interested in. If a child is hell bent at becoming a violinist at age four, I don’t think you should stop them.

“Extend the interest they have rather than force feeding them.”

Education and parenting consultant Kathy Walker said parents too often feel pressured to enrol their children in many extra-curricular activities. Guiding children, extending on their interests and allowing some free play in which they learn to entertain themselves are most effective during early childhood development.

“I think it’s a western global pressure and I see a lot of anxiety [among parents] that somehow their child isn’t going to reach the benchmark. They feel they won’t have a successful child or a happy child,” Ms Walker said.