Children Behaviour Towards Undirected Recreational Play - Research Paper Example

The Importance of Children’s Play Introduction Play has, in the past, been defined as comprising of activities that children engage in without the input of adults. Play is extremely important because it allows children to be able to socialise with and meet other young people while engaged in physically and emotionally beneficial activities. Play is essential for the healthy emotional and physical development of children. It is through play that children are able to develop physical motor skills, thrive in terms of language acquisition, and benefit from emotional, cognitive, and physiological development. A fact that is not often recognised is that play can even function as a type of therapy for children who suffer from behavioural problems. In the present world, children are exposed to numerous problems that affect them physically and psychologically. Factors that have affected the Regularity of Children’s Play The rate of divorce has risen significantly across all nations. This means that children are increasingly being raised in single families, and having to live with the complex emotions that this triggers even though they do not have the capacity to process them. This can cause behavioural problems to arise even in the well-adjusted children. Children today are also exposed to greater levels of stress than their counterparts dealt with in past generations. Many parents today prefer for their children to entertain themselves indoors rather than exploring their surroundings outside. This is because parents tend to be committed to work activities outside the home, and so cannot supervise their children when they are outside school (Ohannessian 2014). Furthermore, parents and guardians today have more access to information through various media channels. This means that parents are more likely to think that their children are endangered due to the sheer numbers of child molesters, kidnappers, and drug traffickers that they imagine are walking through neighbourhoods. It is a fact that such miscreants existed in the past when children were allowed to play outside unsupervised; however, the parents of past generations may not have been exposed to information about child molesters on a regular basis. All children use play as a natural medium to express themselves. This means that when children have accumulated stress from family problems that they have no control over, they can actually play out their negative feelings. Directed Play versus Undirected Play It is an established fact that undirected play is far more productive than directed play. This is because there are definite distinctions between child directed play and adult directed play. Child-directed play tends to be open-ended and spontaneous, while adult-directed play tends to be achievement-oriented and structured. In the present age, many parents have conditioned children to have a preference for passive entertainment choices such as video games, television programs and computers rather than actively engaging in play activities that force them to fully engage their imaginations. In directed play, adults are entrusted with the responsibility of coming up with different types of games that children should engage in. The children actually function as followers who have to do as the adults instruct them to. In such a scenario, it is the adult, and not the children, who gets to use his or her imagination. Even though children in such situations usually enjoy their experiences and attention that is given to them by adults, they do not have opportunities to benefit from self-created experiences. In situations where children spontaneously play with each other, they have to acquire negotiation skills because they create different characters for themselves. For instance, they may have to determine which of them will play the role of students, and which of them will play the role of teachers. This can also help children to learn how to use critical thinking skills and take initiative in using their imaginations to create decisions regarding play constructs. In cases where adults initiate achievement-oriented play activities, children are not given adequate opportunities for spontaneous intellectual development. Open-ended situations generate cognitive skills that increase a child’s capacities. Spontaneous play does not come with a pre-determined result. This means that children have the opportunity to explore infinite possibilities and develop multiple storylines which have a constantly changing group of characters. Children do not have to follow definite rules, and also are not under constant pressure to deliver expected outcomes. This means that they can discover new roles or further explore different possibilities. The Relevance of Learning about the Importance of Play for Teachers It is important for future teachers to learn about the significance of undirected play in the physical, cognitive, and emotional development of children because they will then take an active role in generating situations where it can happen on a regular basis where their charges are concerned. According to O’Connor and Stagnitti (2011), research has established that the increased incidence of undirected play can result in better verbalisation and language comprehension, improved vocabulary, and even better strategies for solving problems. These are aspects that teachers base all their educational strategies upon. Teachers can also benefit from the increased curiosity, intellectual competence, and reduced aggression that undirected play tends to generate in children. Teachers can use undirected play to inspire a greater level of peer cooperation and group activity, which makes it easier for them to entrust their young charges with team projects. To be able to realise positive learning qualities in children, teachers have to learn about the effects of various play environments so that they can understand the situations in which children tend to be most relaxed. Studies in the effects of undirected play on children will reveal that children have to be in a fairly disorganised environment to feel free to engage in rambunctious play. If they are in a situation where adults have installed play grounds with swings on neat grass, children tend to be hesitant to disturb anything or even move too much. According to Howard and Eisele (2012), teachers have to understand that even in the best of situations, play has to be messy. This goes contrary to the preferences of teachers because they wish for a situation where they will be able to easily return the playground to order after the children are finished. This goes against children’s needs. Teachers can actually learn how to enjoy children’s playtime even if they are not directly involved in it. Children tend to enjoy the process of imitating adults. According to Frost (2010), adults can actually have a very significant, albeit subtle, role in generating undirected play simply by engaging in a task that the children try to imitate without necessarily being required to. Even a task such as cleaning up a playground could be viewed by children as a fun activity once they see an adult engaging in it. It is important for teachers to learn about how they can inspire undirected play while remaining in the background. The problem is that this is quite difficult to achieve. According to Fearn and Howard (2012), it would be quite easy for teachers to override decisions or initiatives generated by children or even dominate the playground by simply asking constant questions or giving unsolicited directions. This pushes children to become too purposeful and conscious of their roles as they play. This is characteristic of children in directed play. According to Broadhead, Howard, and Wood (2010), children tend to be extremely physically active and strong. However, they also have unfocused wills that inspire their hurly-burly play activities. This, though, tends to be replaced with more focused play activity with the passage of time. Teachers can learn how to allow children to be in charge with their own progress, in terms of direction, without giving actual direction which spoils the natural character of undirected play. Aims This study will facilitate the evaluation of undirected play activities in children who have exhibited behavioural problems. The research will also seek to establish the effects that undirected play activities tend to have on the emotional and cognitive abilities of children who have behavioural problems. In the first place, the study will include observations made by researchers about the research participant’s initial abilities. Secondly, the researchers will observe children when they are engaged in undirected play versus directed play over three months; and make observations on the development of cognitive, motor, and psychological characteristics that are observed in the children over a certain period of time. Relevance of the Study for a Teacher This research will seek to establish how undirected play affects the feelings and thoughts of children who have behavioural problems in more significant ways than verbal communication. According to Bagwell and Schmidt (2011), behavioural difficulties actually hinder a child’s ordinary functional qualities. This is why it is important for teachers to understand the significance of aspects such as verbal expression, enhanced impulse control, self observation abilities, and how all these aspects translate to affording children more adaptive ways of coping with negative emotions such as frustration and anxiety, and even the ability to trust peers. This study will reveal definite characteristics that play produces in pre-school children with behavioural problems. The study will also come up with different suggestions on ways through which children with behavioural problems can be encouraged to overcome their primary issues in order to develop soundly. Teachers can use this study to learn how to regulate children’s behaviour without forcing them to consume synthetic prescriptions that may trigger worse side-effects. It is a common thing for teachers to presume that children with behavioural issues need to be exposed to extreme forms of punishment or chastisement to have their behavioural issues controlled. This, though, tends to result in an even worse scenario, as the children with behavioural issues are forced to consume products with dangerous side effects in order to control their problems. This could further worsen their behavioural traits as the prescriptions they are forced to consume in such scenarios tend to be created to inhibit any conscious demonstration of spontaneity. For many teachers in such situations, all the expressions of the child with behavioural issues are viewed as being erroneous. This then results it the child in question becoming completely inhibited. This study could offer different suggestions to teachers on how to deal with children with behavioural issues in ways that do not negatively impact the child even while creating the environment for the development of more positive attributes. The People that will be involved This study will have a have 2 students as research participants. Both of these students are in their second year in primary school and between the ages of 6 and 7. To determine the behavioural aspects of the children who function as research participants, there will be a carefully chosen checklist that is distributed to their teachers and parents. The main characteristics that are included in the list of negative behavioural attributes include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, stubbornness, oppositional defiant disorder, anxiety, and undue aggression. Research Time Scale Month Activity May 18 Research Begins May 18-22 Preparation of alignment tests in regards to different sequences of children’s play May 25-29 Alignment tests June 1-12 Determination of different types of behavioural problems among research participants June 15–19 Successful alignment in research participants June 22-July 3 Observation of the reactions of children with behavioural problems to extended sequences of undirected play July 6-10 Analysis of results from observing children with behavioural problems at play for extended periods of time July 13-17 Documentation of the evaluation of the research findings July 20-24 Creation of the first draft July 26 Creation of the final draft. Research Ends. Submit Proposal Limitations There will be definite limitations in conducting this study. The first has to do with parental cooperation. Any researcher will have to contend with the limitations of time and place when determining the best time to hold sessions with research participants. There is also the concern of generalisability. It is quite common for researches that are centred on childhood behavioural aspects to be deemed as being inconsistent. The number of children that will be involved in the research is quite small. It could be stated that this sample does not adequately represent all the children who exhibit behavioural difficulties. This would mean that the findings of the study may not be generalised as being representative of the wider population. Another limitation has to do with the information provided by teachers, or even observations of the researchers. There are existing stereotypes on how children with behavioural problems tend to act. Researchers could subconsciously reflect these stereotypes even without deliberately trying to do so. There is also the fact that assessment instruments that are used in studies usually factor objectively defined behaviour that may be biased prevailing cultural values and norms. Ethical Issues In all researches in which children are used as participants, there are definite ethical issues that researchers have to take into account. The researchers have to abide by laws that require children to be protected at all times, and gain consent before involving them in studies. The researchers also have to maintain confidentiality and respect the privacy of their charges. In many cases, children are given the opportunity to determine for themselves if they wish to function as participants. While young children may not realise the significance of informed consent, researchers can seek for consent from their guardians or parents. Still, it is important to have children understand the reality of what is taking place during the process of observation. References Bagwell, C. & Schmidt, M. (2011) Friendships in childhood and adolescence, Guilford Press, London. Broadhead, P., Howard, J. & Wood, E. (2010) Play and learning in the early years, Sage, London. Fearn, M. & Howard, J. (2012) ‘Play as a resource for children facing adversity: an exploration of indicative case studies’, Children and Society, Children & Society, vol. 26, no. 6, pp. 456-468. Frost, J.L. (2010) A history of children’s play and play environments: toward a contemporary child-saving movement, Taylor and Francis, New York. Howard, J. & Eisele, G. (2012) ‘Exploring the presence of characteristics associated with play within the ritual repetitive behaviour of autistic children’, International Journal of Play, vol. 1, no. 2. O’Connor, C. & Stagnitti, K. (2011) ‘Play, behaviour, language and social skills: the comparison of a play and a non-play intervention within a specialist school setting’, Research in Developmental Disabilities, vol. 32, pp. 1205-1211. Ohannessian, C. (2014) Risks and problem behaviours in adolescence, Routledge, London. Read More