Children need to play for healthy growth

Michael Pravica, Henderson

Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009 | 2:02 a.m.

Regarding an editorial in Sunday’s Las Vegas Sun, “Kindergarten blues: Nation’s emphasis on achievement has led school officials to cut out play for young students.”

As a parent of three small children who has had to deal with issues pertaining to age-inappropriate expectations and the lack of adequate playtime, I enjoyed reading your editorial.

As with all children, each of my kids is a unique force of nature with different talents and a different developmental time line. One year, no matter how much I try, one child may not be able to perform a specific task and then, all of a sudden, the child can do the task the next year with little or no input from me.

Children mature and master skills at different rates, but this is not a reason to tell them that they are “stupid” and need to repeat the year. If anything, this may demoralize them and create artificial mental blocks that could discourage them further.

We need to rethink the No Child Left Behind Act, as it may do more harm than good by forcing the premature differentiation of children, which will deny many late bloomers (such as myself) and many boys (who generally take longer to develop and mature than girls) the chance achieve their full biological potential.

I must acknowledge the ability of my children (especially my boys) to focus on their studies after they have had a good chance to play and exercise, as I experience after a nice bike ride. Children have a biological need to explore and interact with their world — not passively stare at a blackboard.

We should modify early classrooms to be more child-friendly and interactive (such as in the Montessori method) to give children the chance to explore on their own and encourage a love of learning.