Free Play Time

      One thing you will hear debated by parents, caregivers, school administrators, etc, is how important play time is to children. Schools have to decide how much time to devote to class time, and how much to spend on recess/play time. With so much focus on making good grades and ensuring that our kids have all the best learning opportunities, it's easy to see why schools are cutting play time shorter and shorter, and putting so much more emphasis on more traditional learning methods. So what's the big deal, we want our kids to be smart, right? We want them to do well in school, right?

      Play time IS a big deal, and here's an interesting article from NPR and another from babycenter that explain why. 

      I try to make sure that Erik and Paisley get some time to themselves every day to just spend how they want. Granted, Paisley is pretty restricted by what she's able to do right now, but even she can sit and play with her fingers and toes, practice making faces, and learn that she's able to function when not held or attended to by someone else. Erik loves to play on his own. He will voluntarily go down the hall to his bedroom to play by himself for pretty long stretches of time (long for a 13 month old anyways). He loves to sit and look at his books while I am doing other things around the house. He's even invented his own little games that he loves to play whenever he can. It's so fun to watch these two do their thing when they think no one is looking.