September 23, 2016 - 11:27
It is an accepted view that almost all of us look back on our childhoods with a sense of nostalgia. (Henig, 2008) We long for the days we were able to spend carefree and happy. The strong association between our childhood and play has led us to see play as a right of passage, or even a necessity, for all children. UNICEF, in its Convention on the Rights of the Child, defines play as a basic right that all children should have access to. (Edensor, et. al, 2011) Despite this, significant evidence has shown that adults, when testing whether or not play has a positive effect on learning and development, have been made, albeit inadvertently, victims of “play ethos,” which is defined as a cultural view that play is necessarily advantageous for children. (Henig, 2008) The significance of play ethos, along with the possible beneficial psychological effects of play, will be discussed in detail.
Peter Smith, a psychologist from the University of London, was the one of the first to coin the term “play ethos.” (Henig, 2008) After conducting a series of experiments involving children’s performance on a task after being allowed to free-play with sticks or being taught to put the sticks together, he insisted, “most conclusions about play’s adaptive function have so far been based not on scientific evidence but on wishful thinking.” (Henig, 2008) Smith realized through his experiments that the experimental testers, and even he himself, actually wanted the children who were free-playing to perform better on the task and were thus giving these children nonverbal cues in order to help them perform more successfully. In addition, the experimenters also rated the children who were free-playing much higher; when the experimenters were not told which group of children free-played and which did not, the ratings they gave the two groups were almost equal. (Henig, 2008)
The reason we hold play with such high esteem is clear: we all remember play as one of the more positive experiences of childhood. As one of my classmates so aptly put it: “When I date back to my childhood memories of play, I am filled with unfathomable joy.” (Free Rein, 2016) The expression “unfathomable joy” that she uses is a powerful one, which emphasizes the remarkably strong emotions we feel towards our experiences of play during childhood.
This sense of happiness that children experience even applies to children in situations we would not expect: In dismal surroundings, children still find the time and energy to play. It has been documented that during the Holocaust, children still played with each other despite the horror around them. (Henig, 2008) For a more current example, a cease-fire was recently declared in Syria to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. Photographers in the area were struck by the pure joy and happiness they were able to capture on the faces of the children who were finally able to play in the streets again. (Cook, 2016) In both examples, despite the violence surrounding them, children still played when they had a chance to.
There is, however, one problem. Scientists see a distinct lack of solid proof of the developmental benefits of play. (Henig, 2008) The research isn’t clear, and with play ethos tainting the findings of multiple studies, the conclusions made are even less certain. Still, the fact remains that we, as humans, experience the feeling of play ethos. Our children still have the desire to play and still participate in the act of playing. This, in itself, is proof that, to our subconscious, play is worthwhile, beneficial, and rewarding. If this were not the case, would we really have such fond memories of play? Would we really insist on play being an important part of our children’s lives, or would we simply ditch play altogether in favor of more hours of school? The fact that children continue to play and we continue to hold on to our memories of childhood play must mean something. The question is, what?
Stuart Brown, in his interview with On Being Studios, mentions that almost all of the homicidal, violent individuals he investigated were not able to experience a normal level of childhood play. As he was not experimenting with children and simply looking into the pasts’ of individuals, there is little chance that play ethos could have been a factor here. His findings show that play can have a significant impact on the way we develop our social skills, our sense of empathy, and our conflict resolution skills. (Tippett, 2014) My classmates attest to these significant aspects of play as well: “I believe that play fostered me, in the way of making me an out-going and optimistic person.” (Cathyyy, 2016)
Although play may not have any measurable effects on our cognitive abilities, one can be sure that play has an effect on the way we develop into adults. The findings are not clear, but something can be said about the way we all feel about play. Our feelings on the subject should not just be discarded in favor of hard science; they are just as valid. We all hold the memories of childhood play dear to our hearts, and, for this reason, want our children to have the same positive experience of play that we did. Play ethos is there for a reason: to encourage us to allow our children to play, to allow them to develop these social skills that will be of utmost importance to them as they develop into young adults. Let kids simply be kids.
References:
Cathyyy. (2016, September 19) Memories of play. Retrieved from /oneworld/changing-our-story-2016/memories-play
Cook, J. (2016, September 15) Syrian Children Laugh and Play During the Ceasefire: Beautiful photographs show Syrian kids simply being kids. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/syrian-children-play-during-ceasefire_us_57d977abe4b0fbd4b7bcbb25
Edensor, T., Evans, B., Holloway J., Millington S., & Binnie J. Playing in Industrial Ruins: Interrogating Teleological Understandings of Play in Spaces of Material Alterity and Low Surveillance. Urban Wildscapes. Ed. Anna Jorgensen and Richard Keenan. New York: Routledge, 2011. 65-79.
Free Rein. (2016, September 20) Play. Retrieved from /oneworld/changing-our-story-2016/play-1
Henig, R.M. (2008, February 17) Taking Play Seriously. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/magazine/17play.html
Tippett, K. (Producer). (2014, June 9) Stuart Brown—Play, Spirit, and Character [Audio Podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.onbeing.org/program/play-spirit-and-character/143