We adults tell the kids what to play, what position they’ll play, when they’ll play, when to be quiet, and when to make noise. We call them when it’s their turn and tell them to sit down when it’s not. We umpire, make all the calls, and allow no discussion. We tell them when to practice, what to practice, and how long to practice. We don’t ask for ideas or suggestions; in fact, we discourage talking.
It’s fair, in the extreme; as an environment for growth, it’s one-dimensional. All players are treated so equally (at least publicly) that there’s no distinction. The kids, of course, know better. They know who’s good, who’s their goof-off, their cheerleader, their team leade.
As kids, we played what we wanted when we wanted. We made the rules, chose the teams, played as long as we wanted, where we wanted. We made the decisions, formed our scrub teams, used whatever equipment we could scrape together, adapted the game and “ground rules” as necessary, made our own calls, chose our leaders, went home when it was dinnertime or dark. When a problem arose we solved it creatively, as when someone had to leave and the teams became unbalanced. And I think we did a great job.
Leaders became obvious, suggestions arose and were considered, decisions were made, adaptations were quickly decided upon, calls were argued but somehow evened out, everyone got dirty, and occasionally a kid got hurt. We learned how to act and interact, what was acceptable behavior and what wasn’t, simply because the group could enforce conduct through peer pressure.
Great experience. To be fair, I’m lucky I didn’t get a concussion in no-helmet (heck, no equipment at all) football in the schoolyard. But I did get the wind knocked out of me a couple of times, and once sprained an ankle. My friends helped me and my “girlfriend” was sympathetic. Joyous war wounds.
A recent report by the American Academy of Pediatrics indicates that unstructured play is critical to healthy development: “Unstructured play is essential to cognitive, physical, social and emotional well-being … a large proportion of play should be child-driven rather than adult-directed.” And allowing unsupervised activities is just as parentally-supportive, it contends, as “signing them up for more and more sports.”
Bottom line: structured and unstructured play both provide life lessons, but vastly different ones. It seems balance is best.
One of our regular community contributors, David Shumway is a retired engineer who spent much of his career at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He and his wife live in Beavercreek.
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