We all have a favorite pastime; even our kids have one. While they may prefer to play video games during their summer downtime, it’s important we encourage our children to put down the electronics and partake in some physical activity.
So, before you send them back inside to learn come the fall, consider these reasons to allow your child more playtime.
Playtime Encourages Stronger Language Skills
Playtime can transform a child’s language barrier; it encourages them to interact with different children and form new ways of developing their communication skills. It’s proven that children who play more often hold more conversations than kids who spend time on electronics. As such, they are able to practice and form a stronger set of language skills.
Playtime Helps Promote Social Skills
Playtime provides some positive social reinforcement by rewarding children with friends who they can form a close bond with, allowing them to improve their personal relationships across the board. Playtime enhances the skillsets needed to make healthy friendships, such as knowing right from wrong, following directions, and cooperating with others.
Playtime Supports Mental Health
Playtime can support mental health, as children are able to explore their imaginations and, in turn, develop emotional intelligence. During playtime, several opportunities will arise where you can teach your children how to control their emotions—whether it’s settling an argument with a friend or not wanting to share with another kid. Furthermore, playtime can help children relieve stress in a more positive approach rather than throwing a temper tantrum when thing don’t go their way.
Playtime Improves Physical Health
Another reason you should allow your children to have more time to play is that it offers developmental benefits. When children are playing with others their own age, their body responds positively to the physical exercise. Specifically, when we enourage children to be active on a playground, the different features allow them to work on different skills. For example, monkey bars help with fine motor skills, as kids need to use hand-eye coordination to get across.
Playtime Builds Parental Bonds
Parents are the first playmate their children interact with. As such, we play an active role in our young one’s lives, so it’s important we remain nurturing during playtime. This will allow us to better teach basic communication skills and encourage a healthy amount of independence. As we give our children more freedom, they’ll continue to live more active, productive lives thanks to the behavior we modeled during playtime.
Out of all the reasons to encourage your child more playtime, having fun is just as important. So, consider these benefits, but remember that playtime will also allow you to create loving, lasting memories on top of providing your child with better life skills.
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