Forget bungee jumping – the latest extreme holiday involves going toy and tech free for your kids!
Would you travel ‘naked’ with your kids?
By naked we mean not taking any toys or any tech to keep them occupied during your holidays away.
Do you think you could do it? Do you think you’d want to?
And what, if any, would be the benefits of such a (potentially crazy) plan?
A recent article published in digital news outlet, Quartz, argues that we’re ‘ruining’ our kids with Minecraft, in that by relying on technology to entertain our kids, we’re denying them vital unstructured playtime.
Unstructured play or Free Play is the name given to those times that your kid just has to occupy themselves with what’s around them – no elaborate toys, no rules, just a good ol’ game of make believe.
Experts believe that the benefits of unstructured play are enormous. The Quartz article quotes a research study conducted by toy manufacturer Radio Flyer and innovation consultancy ReD Associates, which found that US kids are “unprepared to play with open-ended toys, and are largely unable to play without assistance from either their parents or the toy itself.”
The study also found that the “most imaginative kids in the study were the ones whose parents gave them the space and time to figure things out for themselves” – the opposite of the so-called “helicopter parent”.
The study points the finger at electronic media, stating that the kids in their study, aged of eight and eighteen, spend “an average of nearly 6.5 hours a day with electronic media” with many of these kids not feeling “safe” to go outside without adult supervision.
While these figures sound quite high, the three “takeaways” from the research are still worth thinking about: Kids need unstructured play, parents need to understand what unstructured play is and how it can lead to ‘frustration’ and ‘boredom’ – emotions that kids need to learn how to deal with, and parents need to model unstructured play in their own lives by making effort to ‘unplug’.
When there’s limited room in the suitcase for stacks of toys and tech, travelling on holidays can be the ideal time to try out more unstructured play with your kids.
Do you think your kids get enough unstructured play?
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