Stuart Brown, M.D. » kids http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog Play-How it shapes the Brain... Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:20:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 The rise in anxiety and depression and the decline in play http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/the-rise-in-anxiety-and-depression-and-the-decline-in-play/ http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/the-rise-in-anxiety-and-depression-and-the-decline-in-play/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:00:44 +0000 chris http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/?p=116 Boston College professor Peter Gray argues that the rise in anxiety and depression among kids is tied to a lack of a sense of control over their fate and a move toward emphasizing external goals over internal ones. A sense of control over one’s life and narrative, and internal rewards are things that play provides.

]]> http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/the-rise-in-anxiety-and-depression-and-the-decline-in-play/feed/ 0 Learning and Play http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/learning-and-play/ http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/learning-and-play/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:59:14 +0000 chris http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/?p=119 Susan Engel makes a passionate case for the essential role of play in the learning process.

]]> http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/learning-and-play/feed/ 0 NY Times Magazine article: Can Play Teach Self Control? http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/ny-times-magazine-article-can-play-teach-self-control/ http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/ny-times-magazine-article-can-play-teach-self-control/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:09:15 +0000 chris http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/ny-times-magazine-article-can-play-teach-self-control/ How play succeeds while other methods fail in giving kids better planning abilities and emotional modulation. Could work for adults, too.

]]> http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/ny-times-magazine-article-can-play-teach-self-control/feed/ 0 Let the Children Play http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/let-the-children-play/ http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/let-the-children-play/#comments Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:57:42 +0000 chris http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/?p=98 nochildinsideHelen Guldberg has a provacative blog entry about the decrease in unsupervised play among children.

]]> http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/let-the-children-play/feed/ 0 Free-Range Kids http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/free-range-kids/ http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/free-range-kids/#comments Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:12:47 +0000 chris http://stuartbrownmd.com/blog/?p=42 Posted by Chris

Most of us past the age of 30 grew up in a world that we mostly explored at will. We were asked (told!) to “go outside and play” with only the requirement that we be back before dark or back before dinner. We explored nearby fields and streams, built things, and learned about our own skill and proclivities. Kids now have much more structured lives, the result being that they miss chances to construct the narrative of their own lives.

Lenore Skenazy,  a columnist who once unwittingly unleashed a scandal by letting her 9-year-old son ride on the New York Subway alone, talks about all this in the posted introduction to her book: “Free Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry.”

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