The True Value of Play
Play is one of those things that we feel is only the right of children to engage with, and we lose that natural inclination to care for it as adults. But the truth is that sports, video games, art, and many other creative pursuits show us that play is just as relevant as it is ever is, no matter our age.
The act of play can also be a fantastic means of development, both educational and social. For instance, many of us have learned the specifics of building houses and the names of certain construction tools or building features via playing The Sims, but it goes even deeper than that. In the following advice, we hope to help schools, parents and many others understand just why play is so important, and from then on develop a healthier attitude to education in the best possible sense.
After all, perhaps one of the most important things in life is not to lose touch of your inner child, and if that pursuit can be productive, that’s all the better:
Social Learning, Fun & Excitement
Play enables us to learn socially, from what it takes to share with others, or to co-operate with them. Sometimes being part of a wonderful experience, such as through our children attending school trips to Disneyland Paris, can not only be an amazing memory, but also gives them the platform to share something special with those who also attend. Fun and excitement means attentiveness, and that means an experience hard to quantify in its value. The truth is that play and fun must always be important experiences to cherish, and to this degree, you will be achieving that.
Learning To Enjoy Tasks
Learning to enjoy the very many tasks we have to complete on a daily basis can also be a particular superpower if we get it right. For instance, how do we teach our children chores? As a grinding means of getting things done? Or as fun, as in setting the table for dinnertime as something that creates a work of art to enjoy our food with? For instance, there are two ways to wash dishes. One is intensive, as if every bit of grime is a battle we must fight to remove. The second way is to play, to enjoy the suds running down our hands, to listen to music while swaying our hips, to make light of the whole affair. These perspectives, well shifted, can feed our inner child to no uncertain end.
Getting Better & Training
It’s very possible to grow through play, and to become better at certain activities due to it. For instance, the craft of painting has very real rules and important considerations to measure, such as how to apply perspective, but you’ll never get there unless you get stuck in and risk making those mistakes as you learn. This means that the 10,000 hours required to become the master of a craft is true, but you should never feel that this is only comprised of hard, grinding work. Play can help those hours fly by, and you may even learn more prominently thanks to that.
With this advice, we can consider playing as a healthy behavior to factor into our own lives, and the lives of our children. The more we do that, the greater the positive effects may be.
**disclaimer: this is a sponsored post