I recently heard a very interesting statistic which highlighted for me the importance of playing with your children. Research conducted on criminals in the US by the National Institute of Play revealed that one of the things that all criminals had in common was that their parents did not spend time playing with them as children.

That is rather a shocking thought - that a lack of parental involvement in playing with a child could have a devastating effect on them as they grow older.

This is an important wake-up call for all of us parents who might be too caught up in work, homework, cooking dinner and other chores and responsibilities to take the time to play with our children. Sometimes it is just easier to leave them to entertain themselves, or worse still, to sit in front of some electronic device for entertainment than to stop what we are busy with to play what often seems like a rather pointless game.

We need to remember the importance of play, especially in the lives of our children. Play is work to them in that it is essential for learning and development. Play is critical to our human development.  Play has many benefits, one of which is that it helps children to regulate themselves – to develop self-control, to keep themselves in check, to process their emotions and to consolidate their learning.  Play is also essential in that it brings our curious children to the edge of their knowledge, pushing the boundaries to discover more.  In other words, healthy play actually stimulates learning.  Most famous discoveries have been made by people who pushed the boundaries when they got to the edge of what they knew, and who were “playing” with a concept or an idea.

Playing with your children also demonstrates to them that you are interested in their activity and want to spend unhurried time with them – that they are important to you.

Another interesting statistic that I came across recently was that no other activity has been shown to have a direct effect on a child’s intelligence level except reading to a child. This is the one thing that can affect your child’s intelligence level. Reading out loud to your children is another way that you can spend quality time with them in the form of play.

Here is a list that I have put together to help me spend more time playing with my own children. Perhaps the list will be of some help to you as you attempt to carve out precious time to play with yours.

1. Make a mental note to be silly with your children at least once each day.

2. Take the time to play a game, sing a song, or read a story to your children each day.

3. Find out what their favourite games are to play.

4. Find out who their best friends are and what they like to play together.

5. Start playing traditions within your family such as Friday night games evenings or family fun days on weekends.

6. Stop being so serious and learn from your children how to laugh and joke again.

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