Page 126 - South Mississippi Living - April, 2022

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story by
Holly Harrison and Shannon Stage
Growing up, Sunday afternoons really were
a time for rest and relaxation. After Sunday dinner dishes were done, the newspaper was consumed, and coupons for the upcoming grocery shopping were clipped, the adults would often “just close their eyes for a minute,” leaving the children of the house on their own. Surely, we all have memories of being bored to tears and knowing better than to ask a parent for something to do! Being bored and left to our own devices led to some pretty creative playtime.
A table or some chairs and a quilt made a
great tent. Sticks and cans became percussion instruments. Friends with bicycles or skates
looked like a parade winding down the street. Playing pretend opened up worlds far beyond the neighborhood, and a pickup game of kickball encouraged alliances and strategies that at the time we didn’t even know would become a cache of skills that we would use the rest of our lives.
Times have changed. Today, children are seduced by electronic media that gives them a false sense of community that doesn’t encourage curiosity about the real world. Our children are more isolated than they ever have been and addicted to repetitive behavior that, by the time they are teens, occupies more time each day than school does according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
“On average, children ages 8-12 in the United States spend 4-6 hours a day watching or using screens, and teens spend up to 9 hours.” Screen time does not build self esteem or self confidence like creative play can. If we fail to support experimentation and exploration, we stifle creativity and the opportunity for well-rounded physical and mental growth. We never stop learning, but the greatest amount of learning occurs during the early years in a child’s life when the brain is developing most rapidly and is the most sensitive to interaction.
126 | April 2022
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