Play Makes Us Human

Dear friends, If you Google reading to children you will find no end of websites telling you why you should do so.

Dear friends, I’m writing this on the day of Christmas Eve. I’m excited. This is the first Christmas I will be celebrating with three new grandchildren. Three! Two born just this year and one, who came already a beautiful four-year-old along with my stepson’s wife, when they married this year. Christmas is for children, and children are what make Christmas special. For devout Christians, Christmas is about the birth of Jesus.

Dear friends, As I have described in previous letters (e.g. Letters #2, #3, #5, & #6), play —real play, initiated and managed by the players themselves without outside interference—is how kids learn to take charge of their own lives, solve their own problems, manage their emotions, negotiate with peers, and make and keep friends. It is also how they discover and become skilled at activities they enjoy. In short, it is a big part of how children learn over time to become effective adults.

Dear friends, In previous letters I’ve documented the disastrous effects of the Common Core State Standards on U.S. children and teens. The primary aims of Common Core were to improve test scores in mathematics and the literary arts and reduce the achievement gap, in these subjects, between students from economically poor and economically wealthier homes. Yet, as explained in Letter #78, Common Core had the opposite of its intended effects.

Dear friends, In a recent Boston Globe op-ed, Kara Baskin wrote in these words about the chaos of youth sports for her and her kids: “As I baked in the sun at a far-flung soccer field at 3 p.m. on a muggy Thursday, pecking out a work email while nibbling a limp ham sandwich, I knew my life had spiraled. My younger son had soccer midday. Fine: He loves it.

Letters about the roles of play in human evolution, child development, culture, and daily living By subscribing, I agree to Substack’s Terms of Use and acknowledge its Information Collection Notice and Privacy Policy “A research professor of psychology and neuroscience delving into the important role of play in learning.” Beverley Williams, My Freedom's Wings “Peter Gray's work has been foundational in my understanding of play, education and how young people learn.

Dear friends, A few years ago, I took a walk in the woods with a psychotherapist I know, Mike Langlois, who enjoys video games and, as one of his specialties, works with clients who present with issues related to video gaming.

Dear friends, In Letter #39 I presented quotations from kindergarten teachers about the harm to children caused by intensive academic training practices, forced by higher administrators, especially since the onset of Common Core. Tragically, such practices are now being implemented even in some pre-K programs, with four-year-olds. These programs are being implemented and expanded despite a long history of research showing that early academic training has long-term negative effects.