When you’re the parent of young children, the park can become the center of your universe. It’s your outing for the day, your escape from the inevitable mess of your home, where you’re still figuring out how to keep all the new kid-induced laundry clean and toys out from underfoot. It’s a chance for social interaction with other parents and a pocket of time to just sit and breathe in the fresh air, or maybe push your son on the swing or climb on the monkey bars with your daughter.
And those are just the benefits for the adults.
Parks offer numerous benefits to children, the people for whom they are essentially created.
“The Developmental Benefits of Playgrounds,” a 2004 book based on 35 years of research, focuses on the importance of playgrounds for kids’ development and cites numerous benefits of unstructured outdoor play. First are the obvious physical benefits: improved strength, flexibility and coordination. But play helps with social and academic development too. According to the research, play helps children learn to make decisions and work within a community of others, try out ideas and explore their environment. Pretend play, which happens in full force on playgrounds, is also key to development, improving kids’ critical thinking not just in the moment but also in their future. The emotional benefits include happier kids who are less likely to be hostile or depressed.
[For more of this story, written by Heather Skyler, go to http://www.ocregister.com/arti...1013-parks-play.html]
Comments (0)