Latest / Talking FACS / Let Them Be Bored: The Power of Play

Transcript

Let Them Be Bored: The Power of Play · Talking FACS

• 0:01
  Welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
• 0:05
  food, finance, and fitness.
• 0:07
  This nationally recognized, award-winning podcast is hosted by the University
• 0:12
  of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
• 0:16
  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families,
• 0:20
  and communities to improve quality of life.
• 0:25
  There are so many opportunities available to children today,
• 0:29
  from craft camp to sports to dance to culinary camp, just about any activity
• 0:37
  that you can think of under the rainbow.
• 0:40
  And that's why it's easy for parents to get caught in the trap of too much structured time.
• 0:46
  But today on Talking FACs, we're going to talk about free play.
• 0:51
  I am your host, Mindy McCulley, Extension Specialist for Instructional Support,
• 0:56
  and my guests today are Dr. David Wiesenhorn, Extension Specialist for Parenting
• 1:01
  and Child Development, and Katherine Jury, Extension Specialist for Family Health.
• 1:07
  Welcome to you both. Thank you, Mindy. Unstructured free time allows children
• 1:12
  to develop creativity and independent thinking.
• 1:15
  It fosters skills like self-direction and adaptability.
• 1:20
  So when parents encourage free play through creating safe, flexible environments,
• 1:27
  children can engage in creative thinking and problem solving.
• 1:32
  Summertime is when parents often hear, "I'm bored."
• 1:37
  But is that really a bad thing?
• 1:40
  You know, Mindy, I get that question a lot from parents.
• 1:44
  What do I do when my child's bored? Is that a bad thing? You know, I think,
• 1:48
  one of the things with the advancement of technology is it hasn't really allowed
• 1:52
  children that opportunity to be bored,
• 1:55
  but there is a lot of evidence that shows boredom is really good for children,
• 1:59
  that it's in that space that children often get an opportunity to allow their minds to wander and,
• 2:07
  to really imagine, right?
• 2:08
  We don't use a lot of that word around much anymore, but imagination and the
• 2:13
  power in using our minds to imagine what can be.
• 2:18
  And so boredom is often, it's actually associated with self-control or the lack
• 2:24
  thereof and an impulsive mindset, which is probably why you see it most in adolescence or hear it.
• 2:31
  From young people saying, "I'm bored, I'm bored!" right?
• 2:33
  It's this need to gain some self-control.
• 2:38
  And that only happens when we allow them that space to be bored.
• 2:43
  So boredom is a great thing. And I think with that, again, the technology,
• 2:48
  we don't see it as much as we should.
• 2:50
  Absolutely. You know, as a parent, there's a lot of parts of keeping your kid
• 2:55
  safe and healthy that is your job, right? You know, if you're a parent or a
• 2:59
  caregiver, there's a lot of things that are your responsibility.
• 3:03
  But in this case, it's not your job to entertain your kid all the time or always
• 3:09
  have the answer of what your child should be doing during opportunities for free play.
• 3:17
  That it's completely acceptable to say, you figure it out.
• 3:22
  But there are some things that we can do that can help foster that or provide
• 3:27
  environments that kind of lend themselves to our kids having opportunities for creativity.
• 3:35
  I think in so many ways that parents hear that and they feel like,
• 3:40
  oh, I need to help give my child something to do to stay from board.
• 3:45
  But there's actually quite a bit of research, recent research.
• 3:49
  2023, there was an article that was put out about over-engaged parents.
• 3:54
  And actually, when parents are over-engaged with their children and,
• 3:58
  over-insert themselves into children's play, that what ends up happening,
• 4:03
  the results of that is that impairs the children's ability to regulate their
• 4:07
  emotions and behaviors, which is something we definitely want as adults.
• 4:12
  It reduces autonomy. It stifles that child's initiative.
• 4:17
  Again, they begin to think less and less on their own and look towards adults
• 4:21
  to provide what they do need to do next.
• 4:24
  And it increases that child anxiety. You know, there's publications,
• 4:28
  there's a big book now that people want to talk about, about the anxious generation
• 4:31
  and how we kind of land on technology as is maybe the culprit of that.
• 4:36
  But the realities are is that parents often can also add to that feeling of
• 4:43
  anxiety among children by trying to overmanage, trying to micromanage their
• 4:48
  play or to oversee too much.
• 4:51
  So yeah, I agree with that. Allowing children the opportunity to play in keeping the hands off.
• 4:57
  Boredom is good. Go figure it out, right?
• 5:00
  Absolutely. Something that my kids have grown up hearing me say is when I,
• 5:06
  you know, they'll come to me and say, you know, mom, I'm bored or mom,
• 5:09
  what can I do or what can I play?
• 5:12
  And I'll say, you know, I'm busy right now. Mom's washing the dishes.
• 5:16
  Your job is to figure that out.
• 5:19
  And then I usually give a couple of suggestions of, you know,
• 5:23
  there's craft supplies on the table.
• 5:25
  There's your blocks or your train set.
• 5:28
  You know, I'll give a couple of ideas, maybe of some jumping off points,
• 5:33
  but then just kind of leave it up to them.
• 5:35
  And most often with my kids, when I do that, what they end up coming up with
• 5:40
  is very different than whatever maybe I would have thought of initially as how
• 5:45
  they might spend their time, which is good.
• 5:48
  I mean, that's how I found out how the roly polies tasted, right?
• 5:51
  When I was young, your boredom will lead you to a lot of creative outlets, right?
• 5:56
  I mean, you're eating mud pies, you're doing all kinds of things.
• 5:59
  And so I love that idea of just being able to toss out one or two ideas.
• 6:05
  And some of the ways we can do that is talk to our kids as they're developing.
• 6:08
  And maybe we recognize what are some things that they really gravitate to that
• 6:12
  they enjoy as far as activities go.
• 6:15
  And maybe being able to write some of those things down and provide those in a moment of boredom.
• 6:20
  But I really appreciate, and I think it's more important to do kind of what
• 6:25
  you did is just to say, this is really your job now to figure that out.
• 6:29
  Giving children the opportunities to use that problem-solving skill,
• 6:34
  to engage in creating initiatives, right?
• 6:37
  Absolutely. And different kids' personalities are going to maybe lend themselves different ways.
• 6:41
  I've got one kiddo that's more creative, and so she's more likely to engage
• 6:47
  with Play-Doh or crayons, paper, that kind of thing.
• 6:52
  I've got another one that's more kinetically minded. Every year we give him
• 6:57
  tape for Christmas because we've learned that that's one of his absolute favorite
• 7:02
  manipulatives, not his only gift, but...
• 7:06
  But he's more likely to go build something or figure out how something works.
• 7:12
  We have learned over time that, and this is a parenting, you can learn from my mistakes.
• 7:18
  When I have been a little, maybe two hands off, he will take things apart.
• 7:22
  He wants to know how it works.
• 7:24
  And so we've had to find things that maybe already don't work for him to take
• 7:29
  apart as opposed to things that maybe did.
• 7:32
  But yeah, kind of knowing that maybe the inclination of your kids and providing
• 7:36
  those free play opportunities within those boundaries of what keeps your household going.
• 7:44
  But it is really neat. And you learn so much more about your kids when you give
• 7:48
  them those opportunities to be creative and explore what interests them.
• 7:53
  And there is a reason every early childhood classroom that you come into that's
• 7:58
  worth its salt has a free play space, right?
• 8:01
  Yeah. And, you know, and I think being able to have a space in your home,
• 8:06
  I think you talked about arts and crafts and if that's not inside the house.
• 8:11
  I love the outdoors and that's a great place when kids are bored you know being
• 8:16
  able to go outside into a space that you know depending on the the age of your
• 8:20
  child I'm not asking them to go run and play in the street,
• 8:23
  but having a safe space maybe even in the backyard and some things like some
• 8:28
  old pots and pans or you know some some utensils that you may have had in the
• 8:33
  house that you don't want anymore old bucket or,
• 8:36
  an old pail or something like that where there's a water source.
• 8:40
  Kids love water, right? Get some little bit of water, get, get some mud,
• 8:44
  get, get some sticks and some twigs.
• 8:47
  And next thing you know, they are, they are in a whole new world and you get
• 8:52
  to see that creativity or they're out there building something.
• 8:54
  I love that, right? Like not having, I, we just in, in full disclosure,
• 8:59
  Katherine, we gave my daughter tape for Christmas one year, four or five rolls
• 9:04
  of duct tape, you know, it was like a different colors and she loved it and
• 9:07
  made all kinds of things.
• 9:09
  So I get it. And it sounds like you might have a young engineer on your hand
• 9:13
  if he's already taking things apart and putting them back together.
• 9:16
  So keep an eye on that, especially your lawn equipment.
• 9:21
  I love that this discussion has given ideas for how to combat that age-old question
• 9:28
  of what do I do? I'm bored.
• 9:31
  And I love that we've given framework for why free play is so important.
• 9:38
  Thank you both for the time that you have given to this series on plague.
• 9:43
  I know that these are questions that parents often have, and hopefully we've
• 9:50
  provided a little room for thought as they're making their parenting decisions.
• 9:56
  If you are just tuning in, you are listening to Talking FACS,
• 10:00
  and you can find us wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.
• 10:05
  Thank you for listening to Talking FACS. We deliver programs focusing on nutrition,
• 10:10
  health, resource management, family development, and civic engagement.
• 10:14
  If you enjoyed today's podcast, have a question or a show topic idea,
• 10:19
  leave a like and a comment on Facebook at UKFCSEXT,
• 10:25
  or send us an email at UKFCSEXT@UKY.edu.
• 10:31
  Visit us online at fcs.uky.edu to learn more about the University of Kentucky
• 10:38
  Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program or contact your local Extension
• 10:42
  agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.
• 10:45
  We build strong families. We build Kentucky. It starts with us.