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Five Ways Families Can Engage their Children through Play this Summer
By Afifa Chaudry and Dr. Benjamin M. Drury
So much of what happens in a school setting is intentionally created to assess the learning and ‘growth’ of a student in their designed learning environment. Children are increasingly being asked to perform their academic abilities to serve as an indicator of the performance of the adults in their building which in turn guide the funding allocation for schools across the United States. Good grades and graduation rates tend to attract increased local, State, and Federal dollars to your district. Something that is pure and authentic about being a child is being lost in the transition of the ages of 10–14 being replaced with one’s first internship experience. Playing…using your imagination…is being lost or relegated to a place of triviality in the academic universe. Young people are being raised in an educational space that centers on projects and instructions and following rules. Students today are less likely to be encouraged to ask questions during their K-12 education that might challenge the current hegemonic worldview that places the narrative of going to college, getting a job, getting married, starting a family, buying a home, and then retiring from everything 30-years-later. Playing around is an important part of our social, emotional, and academic cognitive development…
