This week I took a class to visit a pre-school. It was a field trip for an entrepreneur class I’m teaching this semester. One of our students is interested in child development and has dreams of opening up a pre-school one day.
It was a wonderful school. Colorful classrooms. Student artwork hanging on the wall. The kids were all well behaved and engaged in what they were supposed to be doing.
I asked the director a question about free play.
I’ve been listening to Stolen Focus by Johann Hari. It has really been making me think.
There is a worldwide crisis concerning our ability to focus. Hari, in his book, cites experts who have tied this to everything from diet to social media (THIS will be in a future email). One of the things he tied it to was the lack of free play.
The director of the preschool, in response to my question about free play, explained that they were a curriculum-based school. The kids had two scheduled times to play during the day. She explained that the kids do better with more structure.
I kind of winced. I’ve said the same thing before.
In Stolen Focus, Hari shared how one school started a free play day once a month. When they started it they had many kids that didn’t know what to do.
They literally did not know how to play without someone directing them.
I’ve witnessed this too.
I taught 7th grade Language Arts and History at a private school. I asked the students to write an opinion paper. The majority of them had no clue how to even start. They had never been asked to think for themselves. They only knew how to regurgitate what their teachers had given them.
As parents and educators are we structuring the focus and motivation out of our kids?
It is something I’m thinking about right now. I definitely think kids need more time to play. Even big kids! My 15-year-old still loves to run around a grassy field with his shoes off chasing his friends in a game of tag.
It is more than that. I need more free play too.
Even as adults we are more focused and productive if we take time to get away from our work. I admit I have a really hard time with this. If I’m not working (family, home, education, business) I feel guilty. And then I try and work harder and then I am totally drained.
I know I’m not alone. Do you ever feel like that too?
Imagine how our kids feel. Especially our teens.
They are on the cusp of adulthood and it is hard for them to imagine the future. A lot of what they are hearing about it is downright scary.
There is so much going on around them they need a way to filter it all so they aren’t running around in circles. They need the time to unwind and think.
Does your teen need some ideas on how to go forward? What to focus on?
I’ve put together a program for teens and their parents.
It is very straightforward and doesn’t take much time. The teens need to do a few things and these are submitted to me. I go over them before we meet online for a 45-minute coaching call to discuss it and form a game plan for the future.
The Genius Game Plan is meant to give teens and their parents a vision for the future.
For more information and to sign up email me at info@realizinggenius.com.