The Country School is an independent, coeducational, Pre-K through 8 school founded in 1934.
Right Start Blog
Christopher Robin Was Right About Nothing
Mr. Everhart shares new advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics and points out the value of "nothing."
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently published a report entitled "The Power of Play" outlining the importance of play and called for pediatricians to advocate for play in conversations with parents. The Washington Post recently wrote an article on this very report offering an abbreviated - if a bit hyperbolic - companion piece.
There is one particularly striking moment in the AAP report, and it is the call for pediatricians to “write a prescription for play at well visits.”
As a parent and an educator, I must admit to being taken aback when I read that doctors are now encouraged to prescribe play time for children, and I have found my thoughts drifting to the beloved characters Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh in the weeks since I read the report. So much of what A. A. Milne writes is a beautiful portrait of the fleeting time when a child should spend hours engaged in the nothingness of play. To quote the oft-cited lines from the 1928 classic House at Pooh Corner,
"But what I like doing best is Nothing."
"How do you do Nothing?" asked Pooh, after he had wondered for a long time.
"Well, it's when people call out at you just as you're going off to do it, What are you going to do Christopher Robin, and you say, Oh, nothing, and you go and do it."
Of course, no one reading this article is opposed to children playing, but there is an expanding body of research that says that our children have less time to engage in play than they once did. We all want our children to be safe, we worry about them spending too much time on screens, and we want them to be well-prepared to achieve. There is nothing wrong with any of those goals in isolation and moderation, but in combination, the American Association of Pediatrics found the following:
“...there are risks in the current focus only on achievement, after-school enrichment programs, increased homework, concerns about test performance, and college acceptance. The stressful effects of this approach often result in the later development of anxiety and depression and a lack of creativity. Parental guilt has led to competition over who can schedule more ‘enrichment opportunities’ for their children. As a result, there is little time left in the day for children’s free play, for parental reading to children, or for family meal times.”
At the Country School, I take this report to mean that we will need to continue to defend our time set aside for recess, outdoor education, and field trips; preserve the quiet and student choice inherent in our STAR time; ever infuse our curriculum with the type of creative, engaging work so readily apparent in art, music, STEAM, and creative writing; and pay close attention to the amount of homework and number of transitions we ask of our students each day.
On a personal level, as a parent, I confess that I am not sure how to let go of the parental guilt and anxiety that can sometimes lead me to either overschedule my children or set aside too little time for them to play. But I do find it empowering to be aware of this particular issue, and I share this with you as fellow TCS parents with the hopes that you will find this information helpful as we all navigate the current landscape in which we are working together to do right by our children.
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