1. Beyond obvious deliberations

Literally every day one encounters the argument, often put forward by a leading child specialist and with a lot of fanfare and flourish and as if this observation is the discovery of the century,

that"play is good for children" and that"children should be given all opportunity to this end". This is, of course, a good thing, as boys and girls should indeed play a lot; it is also slightly puzzling for all those who have worked intensively and long with or for children as they have heard this message over and over again, as have so many people who went before them. They may also feel that, despite these often-repeated statements, children appear to play less -perhaps indoor screen-based gaming excluded- and that opportunities for play are diminishing, or at least not increasing. Symptomatic is a 2018 survey about public safety in Toronto, Canada, a well-resourced city, by any definition. More that half of the people considered the place unsafe for cyclists [these are mainly young people as Canadians older may drive a car when 16 years old] as well of pedestrians; children who would like to play outside are hardly seen [3]. These findings are corroborated by a 2017 Gallup poll in US which also showed a striking decline in the time boys and girls engaged in child-led, unstructured play, notwithstanding overwhelming evidence that especially this kind of activity is massively beneficial for their happiness, well-being and development [6].

There are a host of reasons conceivable for this decline; one of the main culprits seems to be the educational establishment. Educational ministries, spearhead by powerful international bodies such as The World Bank, keep on pushing children to become early learners at ever younger ages. Learning, in their understanding, is solely defined in terms of scholastic achievements. It is a familiar given: regardless of the common'arts and crafts' activities that are part of the regular curriculum of most kindergartens, the main thrust of current ECD thinking is to turn ever younger children into'early learners' so that they can do well in primary schools and a few years later in secondary schools and so on; this with the ultimate, defensible, but very narrow objective of making them employable and employed citizens. In New York, a kindergarten's traditional song-and-dance year-end celebration was cancelled as the teachers felt the time was needed"prepare the pre- schoolers for college and careers" and to make sure that their'students'; they felt they were under pressure of being evaluated on the test scores of the children and the need to make them"college and career ready"[2]. Educator Farid Abu Gosh laments the fact that Palestinian parents on the West Bank feel that their three-year-old children should be in school to learn, not to play [1]. In resource-rich places, these effects can me mitigated by providing child-friendly environments; in poor settings, however, the facilities turn into bleak and boring classrooms.

Informal outdoor play benefits people in multiple ways. Left: Havana, Cuba [3]. Right: New York, USA[9]

Nonetheless, the ongoing pressure keeps on being mounted both by the educational establishment and its supporters to make play subservient to what they see as a loftier goal: learning or academic success. Thus, the influential Lego Foundation, an offshoot of the Lego Company - which family has no Lego bricks? - has as its flagship programme'Learning by Play' which endeavours to spread this notion over the globe. A noble goal indeed, but the very nature of play, as a valuable dear activity and as a happy moment for kids, may be sacrificed [18].

Hardly without an exception, national governments and NGOs are pushing for having more and younger children in school. Currently, this mainly happens by extending downwards the entry levels of children enrolled in basic schools. Most European basic schools now have five- and four-year old children under their roofs; while a few decades ago age of entrance was six or seven years. Less resourceful countries are following suit; in Turkey, for example, where children traditionally enrolled in basic schools at the age of seven, five- and six-year olds are now being'let in'[14], while in Zimbabwe, all basic schools are now required to take in children age five.[16] Undoubtedly, as is the case in many Western European countries, these schools will take in even younger children.

An issue that immediately arises when looking at this trend, is the monopoly position that the education ministries exert on the lives of boys and girls; and one wonders to what extent'the best interests of the child' are still being served by the other ministries, especially those that deal with health, social welfare, culture and protection. It seems that they are pushed to the sidelines.

Russia is among a few countries that bucks this trend by keeping the separation between kindergartens and primary schools – they have no extension downwards- and, significantly, by offering the children on their guard a wide and culturally-rich environment.

Inspired by the Russian experience, we reason in our Culturised Early Childhood Development against this'schoolifcation' of childhood which we see as detrimental to children's well-being and healthy development. Our notion of'culturised early childhood development' also widens up the traditional definitions of'play' to including nature walks, non-combative sports, caring for animals, joint cooking exercises and meals, gardening, making music and other creative activities together. The study also brings to bear convincing and growing evidence that such a culturised early childhood development benefits all domains of children's lives including those related to academic achievements.

By extending downwards the accession age of children by primary schools, poorly-resourced ones may curbt these children's childhood experiences. Left: Kindergarten added to elementary school, Uganda [12]; right: Kindergarten in Russia [7].

Table 1: Collective replies by groups of children, young people and adults from 18 countries.

Recent developments in Gorky Park, Moscow, demonstrate how a new vision can actually create an exciting, safe and playful environment for everybody: children, pensioners, mothers with their babies, students...,as well as for adolescent girls unaccompanied by their older brothers, uncles, or fathers. Before politician Sergei Alexandrovich Kapkov reconstructed the park in 2011, it was a dodgy place, to use an understatement. Now, it is an eco-friendly, welcoming, four-seasons, almost magical place, with free access and Wi-Fi and lots of places that invite creativity, inspiration, imagination, exploration and many other such vital ingredients for play. Photo: depositphotos.

To canvass'regular' peoples' opinion, we invited groups of children, aged 10-12, teenagers and young adults, aged between 16-22, and adults, aged 30 plus, from 18 countries world-wide, to choose between these two statements:"should pre-school or kindergarten be about children developing and learning through playing, enjoying nature, singing, painting, dancing, drawing pictures" or rather"be about teaching how to read, write and to work with numbers?" The outcomes are presented in the table below.

Replies to the question:'should pre-school or kindergarten be about children developing and learning through playing, enjoying nature, singing, painting, dancing, drawing pictures' or rather'about teaching how to read, write and to work with numbers?'

In the main, all interviewees seem to support the'play' option, although there are exceptions, notably those from Iraq and the young people from South Africa. The answers of the first group could perhaps be explained by the fact that all the persons that had been approached lived in refugee camps, while the persons interviewed in South Africa mainly lived in dilapidated townships. Canada's lackadaisical stance is more difficult to gauge but may have to do with the highly competitive academic- grades-based acceptance criteria set by the nation's top universities[17].

By extending downwards the accession age of children by primary schools, poorly-resourced ones may curbt these children's childhood experiences. Left: Kindergarten added to elementary school, Uganda [12]; right: Kindergarten in Russia [7].

2. Safe, unsupervised leisure-time spaces for adolescent girls.

It is telling that the discussion on child's play focuses mainly on younger children. Accordingly, policy adviser Patrin Watanatada strongly promotes the'Urban95' initiative which seeks to convince both local authorities and their residents to design and govern cities from the perspective of children with heights of 95 or less:"their youngest children". Indeed, most discussions on play have young children in mind.

Historian Johan Huizinga, in his Homo Ludens, describes the drive and ability to play as crucial to human, not only children. It is telling to rehearse the five criteria that he sees as essential to play: it is free, an expression of freedom; it is an activity different from regular or real life; it occupies its own space and time, it creates order; and serves no material interest [10]. Both the first and last characteristics are need of repeating, or so it seems. Following in Huizinga's footsteps, a powerful argument to extend the goodness of play to people of all ages, stripes and colours, is made by musician, journalist and political activist Pat Kane, who argues that activities within business, the arts and the political world should be treated as essentially playful. Play should be embraced, celebrated and made into life's guiding ethic, or as he states, people need"to become literate in all the forms of play that humans pursue" [11].

Largely overlooked, if not completely, both in the debates and in practice, are the needs and wishes of adolescent girls. Yes, many are also children, not only because they are defined as such by the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. These young persons may not like to see their activities being labeled as'play'; they'hang out', but it boils down to the same. Almost everywhere, girls find it ever more difficult to enjoy leisure time without the constant and immediate supervision of their parents or other male guards. This is, particularly, the case for adolescent girls. Places for safe play and leisure-time, but unsupervised, necessary for any young person to freely explore, experiment, socialize, physically exert themselves and to grow up are increasingly threatened by urban development and even more so by real or perceived threats from people intent on doing them harm. Safe and unsupervised leisure opportunities for girls are becoming a rare a phenomenon.

This situation is most striking in countries where there is a strong gender segregation, whether based on religion, social class, traditional values or other factors, and where boys are favored over girls. Here, the impact is disastrous as girls are forced to conform to societal dictates that may not necessarily gel with their own visions for their future. Many find themselves'cooped up' in closely- watched houses or compounds where they linger away their time; often passively awaiting the day that they will get married. Also, in typical modern and post-modern societies, the trend that limits girls more and more to their strictly-supervised homes or play, sport and leisure activities is picking up force rapidly. Gated-communities, not only for the elite, are now becoming a norm and young girls are escorted to and from their destination by their parents, male family members or hired help.

With hardly any costs, but with a little effort much can be achieved at the neighbourhood level, provided policy makers, community-based organisations, parents and others put their hands and heads together. This has not happened in the situation as shown in the left picture but has succeeded in that as portrayed in the right one [Photo: Jantje Beton].

Ever-more sophisticated GPS technology reinforces this trend of curtailing their freedom of and putting their healthy and holistic development in jeopardy even more. The implications of a restricted continuously monitored and controlled environment are not well documented, but all evidence point into the same direction; they also impact, later in life, the way they take on more adult responsibilities.

What are the implications here then for sensitizing not only adolescent boys and girls but societies at large on gender issues such as identity, equality, and self-esteem? How can the school curricula address these issues? What are the broader implications for fostering conscious successful youths and a more progressive society? The issues of teen pregnancies, high school dropouts and teen suicides become suddenly very relevant when examined from this context.

Interestingly, research shows that'girls in an unsupervised environment engaged in fewer structured activities and did not immediately do their homework but were more likely to be physically active than supervised girls [15]. Psychologist Peter Gray in his Free to Learn provides ample evidence that children who only play when their parents are present develop serious mental and behavioural problems later in life [5]. If this is the case with children, it is likely that the same applies to girls and young women when their leisure activities are constantly supervised. It is time that many of the infringements are seen for what they are: violations of the rights of these young women.

3. Reaching out to new audiences

Chances are that this text and all the other contributions to this Digest are being read or written only by educators, teachers or other people who have a professional interest in the children's lives. The present author is no exception. Educational conferences typically cater also to the same ilk. Barring the obligatory provocative speaker, invited for the occasion, the main outcome is largely motivational as well as the generation of mutually-shared feel-good and self-confirming sentiments and, increasingly, the accessing and creation of new networks. These results should not be belittled as they are of utmost importance as they keep indispensable systems in place and sustain and nurture the activities of the people who are part of these systems and who care much about the children and young persons they serve. However, they also tend to reiterate and regurgitate well-established ideas; the same musical scores are being played, at best with different instruments. Sometimes one feels like talking to one's own image in a mirror. Needed change, let alone innovation, is slow in coming. This applies in high-measure to the discussion on the importance of play, not only for children but for everybody.

One way out of this bind is to break out of the'bubble' and reach out to new and non-customary audiences: Why not talk about the multiple benefits of play to police officers, city planners, shop keepers, construction workers, taxi drivers, social workers, architects, farmers, media professionals, religious leaders...people? They all have been children, most of them have played. They, with many others, make up communities and societies and have undoubtedly meaningful things to say and a role to play, as members of families and their neighbourhoods. Much of what is well known or established practice among educators may be exciting and revolutionary to them and even be welcomed. And they are surely able to bring in new ideas. They also live, however, in their specific'bubbles' or silos and may not be inclined to leave these and build bridges to people outside these. But when this happens, when people from different quarters get together and, importantly, are willing to look at things from the others' perspectives [ideally in a playful manner], miracles can happen as a quick analysis of success stories, those that describe how conditions for play can be created by joining hands, show. One recent example, among countless: investigative journalist Thomas Friedman writes about the once derelict city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, US, were local groups, business leaders, educators, philanthropists and local governments have come

together and brought the town back from the brink and made it more conducive to play. Friedman describes initiatives occurring at a macro level, but similar resourcefulness could be displayed at the level of neighbourhoods or even at that of streets [17]. Testimony to this was the work of some twenty-plus Turkish'mid-career professionals' with varied expertise in child development issues who were invited to look at an ugly stretch of a dead-end, inhospitable, dirty street in Ankara with the request to provide suggestions on how to make it'child friendly'. They were given only twenty minutes to do so. The results were so impressive as well as doable and affordable, that the municipality of Ankara expressed an interest in following their suggestions [13].

References

1. Abu Gosh, Farid, 2003, Walking the tightrope', Jerusalem: Modern Arab Press.

2. Edwards, Peter, 2014,'Kindergarten pageant cancelled so kids can keep studying', Toronto Star, 30 April.

3. Forum Research, 2018,'Half of Those Aware of Vision Zero Say It's Not Doing Enough', Forum Research, 9 July.

4. Friedman, Thomas, 2018,'Where American Politics Still Work From the Bottom Up', The New York Times, 4 July.

5. Gray, Peter (2013), Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life, Basic Books, New York.

6. http://ww2.melissaanddoug.com/MelissaAndDoug_Gallup_ TimetoPlay_Study.pdf; accessed: 13 July 2018.

7. http://www.infotaste.com/environmental-ethics-in-russian- preschool-education/; accessed: 14 July 2018.

8. https://everyhundredthofasecond.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/ cubans-at-play/; accessed: 17 July 2018.

9. https://www.nyunews.com/2017/04/24/anybody-for-chess/; accessed 17 July 2018.

10. Huizinga, Johan, 1938, Homo Ludens, Haarlem: H.D. Tjeenk Willink.

11. Kane, Pat, 2004, The Play Ethic, London: MacMillan.
12. MissionNewsWire, 2015,'UGANDA: Don Bosco Elementary School Planning Additional Kindergarten Class to Meet Growing

Need', 27 January.

13. NIHA-ICDI Diploma Course on ECD, 2010. For information, contact: www.ICDI.nl.
14. Özgan, Habib, 2010,'Comparison of early childhood education

(preschool education) in Turkey and OECD countries', Educational

Research and Review, 5 (9), pp 499-507.

15. Rushovich, Berenice R. et al (2006),'The relationship between

unsupervised time after school and physical activity in adolescent girls', International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 3:20.

16. Rwaterera. Gunhu M, M. Rose Mugweni and Thelma Dhlomo, 2011,'Integrating early childhood development (ECD) into mainstream primary school education in Zimbabwe: Implications to water, sanitation and hygiene delivery', Journal of African Studies and Development, July, Vol 3 (70, pp 135-43.

17. Van Oudenhoven, Nico and Rona Jualla van Oudenhoven, 2014, Culturised Early Childhood Development. Antwerp Garant. A Russian translation is available at Publishing House Mozaika- Sintez, Moscow.

18. Zosh, Jennifer, M., Emily J. Hopkins, Hanne Jensen, Claire Liu, Dave Neale, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Lynneth Solis and David Whitebread, 2017, Learning through play: a review of the evidence'. Billund: Lego Foundation, November.



Nico Van Oudenhoven - Co-founder and Senior Associate, International Child Development Initiatives, ICDI., Leiden, the Netherlands. nico.vanoudenhoven@gmail.com

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