Playtime: Children's play should be fun, but it should also be taken seriously. That's according to a leading international occupational therapy expert who was in Dublin last week to address Trinity College's department of occupational therapy.
Parents, teachers and caretakers could support play for children, and learn to better support play for children with disabilities, said Dr Paula Kramer, chairwoman and occupational therapy professor at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.
She said play was important in helping children learn and grow physically, emotionally and psychologically, and it was a natural part of a child's daily life. "We tend to shelter children with disabilities. But with play, that might not be such a good thing."
But for children with disabilities, play is often more difficult. For example, blind children need more tactile things to play with, while deaf children may need more visuals, but that doesn't mean they should be limited, said Dr Kramer.
Even children with a learning disability may have "a subtle lack of co-ordination or may not be able to take the pressures of competition. Parents and teachers need to be be attuned to those things," she said.
Dr Kramer used the example of a mother in the US who said her child was not successful in American football because he couldn't remember the plays, which really frustrated him. This was an indicator that he had a learning disability, and needed to learn the plays in a different way so he could better remember them.
"Play is supposed to be fun, not make you miserable," she said. "When a child is unhappy in play, it's a sign that something is not working well."
Usually after parents discover children have learning disabilities, the challenge is how to tailor play to the child.
This is where occupational therapists can step in. A child explains the problems he or she has, and then play can be structured to help the child get the most out of it, while having as much fun as possible, according to Dr Kramer.
In the US, parents were over-scheduling their children with things like piano lessons, gymnastics and soccer, she said, adding that her Irish colleagues say this is beginning to happen in Ireland as well.
While children need free time, parents and teachers "tend to make play too safe", she said. "They need to climb trees, build a fort and play pretend."
In an age of TV and video games, children were playing less, she said. And while studies don't agree how much TV is too much, they can agree television watching "must be managed".
If children did not learn to play, they would not be able to entertain themselves, would not learn to interact with others as well, and would not learn to fantasise and play pretend, she said.
As they grow, the first type of play children learn is to enjoy the physical sensation play creates, such as going down a slide or jumping into a pile of leaves.
As children grow, they will learn to play pretend, by imitating real or imaginary things.
They will then learn to construct things, such as building a house out of blocks, and finally, learn games with rules.
Dr Kramer said children did not go from one stage to the next in a linear fashion.
The stages overlap, she said, "much like a 13-year-old boy who is interested in girls, but still plays video games".
Parents need to cater play to their children's needs, make sure there is no pressure involved, such as winning or scoring a goal, and "remember that play is for play's sake", Dr Kramer believes.