“The protected place in space and time that we once called childhood has grown shorter.”
In 2007, the American Academy of Pediatrics published a report, The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds. The report included this statement: “Because every child deserves the opportunity to develop to their unique potential, child advocates must consider all factors that interfere with optimal development and press for circumstances that allow each child to fully reap the advantages associated with play.”
The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, in their 1989 Declaration of the Rights of the Child, declared, in Article 31, that every child has the right to play.
Considering these two important documents, one wonders why, in 2020, we still have to advocate for the child’s right to play, both in school and outside of school?
On December 17, 2010 I had a fascinating and illuminating conversation with four outstanding advocates for the rights of children – Dr. Peter Metz, Nakoley Renville, Anne Haas Dyson and Peter Rawitch. It is, I believe, a discussion to ponder carefully and, perhaps, to share and discuss with parents, teachers and anyone interested in the well-being of young children.