the pattern of over-managing our kids’ lives, but it’s vital leaders. Why? Because they’ve been successful in more
that we do so. active, hands-on play and have been given the chance to
7. Improved Social Skills
and Interaction
expend pent-up energy in all-out activity.
8. Improved Mental Health
If you’ve ever watched a group of kids play a game of The rise in mental health problems amongst kids as
softball you might see more arguing about the rules than young as pre-school is a testament to our over-managed,
actual play. But what you’re seeing is social skills in the over-tested and earlier to learn environment. The skills
making. Older kids will make the rules and try to enforce that used to be taught in first grade must now be
them. Quieter kids will be given chances to play (or not) mastered in kindergarten. The results are children with a
and bossy kids will try to run the show. In the middle too hurried and too stressful world. There will always be
of the chaos, children will learn how the world of rules expectations in the learning world, but for those children
works and they’ll play a little ball too. When children are who enjoy more free time, more authentic outdoor fun
free of adult supervision, they build leadership skills and and more opportunity to run and play, the better they’ll
learn to work as a community. Is it pretty? Not always, feel about themselves and their life. We give our children
but there are always lessons learned. In some of the a great gift when we encourage and champion free play
school where increased free play has been introduced in the great out of doors.
with fewer rules and the attitude of “safe enough,”
the children earlier seen as bullies have emerged as
12 | F L A G L E R parent M A G A Z I N E