Play is one of the most important elements of a child’s life.  In schools, emphasis is put on the class room subjects like Mathematics, English, Science and other subjects while at home parents encourage their children to stay indoors.

This scenario is common in the urban areas where families are weary of having their children running about with the neighbours’ children. In villages child labour makes it impossible for the children to play since they are always working.

Play is important in helping a child develop social skills, language skills, and even arithmetic skills on top of helping the child develop emotional and psychological balance.

Children who play are usually happier and therefore healthier than the ones who do not and more so play helps a child do some form of physical exercise especially if it takes place outdoors.

Most children these days are faced with obesity because of lack of play in their daily timetable. This is usually for the case of children of the rich and well to do families who spend most of their time indoors watching TV, playing video games and eating.

These children never consider play and their parents do not encourage them to go outdoors. This leads to health and emotional problems. This explains why most of these children are usually socially mal-adjusted.

Play helps a child’s educational development in that the kind of toys one has usually helped pave a path for the child’s future career choices and academic abilities.

Some scholars argue that children who play with instruments especially boys usually end up science oriented while the ones who play with dolls and therefore form mock families while playing usually end up art oriented.

This same group argues that this explains why girls are usually better at language and arts than boys while boys who usually play with other toys like cars are usually better at science.

Play helps a child understand the difficult world of the adults by recreating it. This in turn helps the child’s psychological development.

More so play can help tame a hyper active child as it provides an avenue where excess energy can be released. Most gifted children are mis-interpreted and called stubborn and destructive by teachers and parents yet the problem is that these children are being denies the chance to be creative through play.

Some of these are usually bored by their old toys and are simply needing new ones. When parents and teachers fail to recognise this the children go ahead and destroy household items in the bid to find a new play thing.

Parents and teachers have to recognise the importance and the role of play in the development of a child.

President- elect Barrack Obama promised to buy his daughters a puppy which they would take to their new home the White house a move that caused all of America to focus on the idea of pets and the role they play in a person’s life.

Pets are one form of allowing play to come into the home. Children like to play with puppies and other pets and where these are not available other play things can be provided.

It’s not that a pet is a play thing it’s that it helps make the owner develop the ability to play and also enjoy it hence benefiting in many ways. President Obama knew this and hence he promised his daughters one.

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