by Paula Spencer

“I felt a strange wave of nostalgia mixed with pity for kids today as I read Beverly Cleary books with my daughter the other night. Cleary’s characters Henry Huggins, Beezus, and Ramona play “brick factory” and smash bricks into dust. They tie a jump rope between two trees to make a tightrope. They put on plays and build boats out of scrap lumber. Compare that to our kids' carefully structured and supervised playtime.

Today we call unstructured fun "free play." But many kids don’t get nearly enough of it anymore, a growing chorus of child-development experts is warning.

HIDE AND SEEK: WHERE’S THE PLAY?
It may seem obvious that kids need to play. Trouble is, a lot of what passes for play lately doesn't quite cut it. "Playing" organized sports, for instance, isn't child-led or open-ended--two key traits of true play. Neither is "playing" computer games--and today's kids spend more time with computers, TV, and game screens than on any other activity except school and sleeping, surveys show. Even babies miss playtime while watching "brain-building videos," going to classes, or being dazzled by toys that do the talking (and thinking) for them.

Add in the fact that the number of schools providing recess dropped from 96 percent in 1989 to 70 percent in 1999, leading the National PTA to launch a Rescuing Recess campaign. Playgrounds go unused by kids too busy with extracurriculars. A planned New York City playground even promises "play workers" to help kids get the job--I mean play--done!

Some fun.

It’s true that classes, supervised sports, and even video games can have a useful plae in modern childhood. Extracurricular activities can put kids on a path to academic success. But too much of even a good thing crowds out what we know is as crucial for kids as food, water, and air: plain old play.

When your baby drops a spoon off a high chair over and over, it's a game that makes him smarter: Hmm, will Mom give it back again? What if I drop it off the other side? Will it make a different sound? From day one, play is how kids figure out the way things work, practice social skills, learn to think creatively, develop self-sufficiency, and discvoer their true interests.

"Silencing play is as harmful to healthy development--if not moreso--as hurrying kids to grow up too soon, says psychologist David Elkind, author of The Power of Play and ...