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1769 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Children’s Play Environment after a Disaster: The Great East Japan Earthquake

by Isami Kinoshita and Helen Woolley

Children 2015, 2(1), 39-62; https://doi.org/10.3390/children2010039 - 28 Jan 2015

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 10637

Abstract

The Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, together with the subsequent tsunami and nuclear power station accident, damaged a wide area of land. Children who experienced these terrible disasters and the post-disaster situation are still suffering in mental, physical and social [...] Read more.

The Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, together with the subsequent tsunami and nuclear power station accident, damaged a wide area of land. Children who experienced these terrible disasters and the post-disaster situation are still suffering in mental, physical and social ways. Children’s play is an activity that they undertake naturally and which can help them recover from such disasters. This paper addresses the role of play, adventure playgrounds and other play interventions, including play buses, for the health triangle, which addresses mental, physical and social issues of children after the disasters. These interventions were shown to be effective because children could express their stress. This included play for their mental health, different body movements for their physical health and communication with playworkers and new friends for restructuring their social health. These three aspects relate to and support each other within the health triangle. An increase in childhood obesity and lack of exercise is an additional health issue in Fukushima. For a balanced recovery within the health triangle, more play environments should be provided and some improved. A child’s right to play should be implemented in the recovery stage after a disaster. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Play in Children’s Health and Development)

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224 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Healing Power of Play: Therapeutic Work with Chronically Neglected and Abused Children

by Fraser Brown

Children 2014, 1(3), 474-488; https://doi.org/10.3390/children1030474 - 09 Dec 2014

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 9556

Abstract

This article concerns a therapeutic intervention with a group of abandoned children living in a Romanian pediatric hospital. The children, ranging in age from one to ten years old, had suffered chronic neglect and abuse. They had previously spent most of their lives [...] Read more.

This article concerns a therapeutic intervention with a group of abandoned children living in a Romanian pediatric hospital. The children, ranging in age from one to ten years old, had suffered chronic neglect and abuse. They had previously spent most of their lives tied in the same cot in the same hospital ward. They were poorly fed and their nappies were rarely changed. Although able to see and hear the other abused children, they experienced little in the way of social interaction. The article focuses on the play-based methods that were employed to aid the children’s recovery, while at the same time highlighting the general benefits of this very specific therapeutic approach to children’s recovery and development. In particular, there is an exploration of concepts such as symbolic representation, negative capability, joining, and the significance of play cues. However, despite the clear value of these individually focused techniques, the article proposes the tentative hypothesis that the most powerful healing factor was the unfettered playful interaction between the children themselves. In other words, the children in a very real sense may have healed each other while playing. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Play in Children’s Health and Development)

618 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hospital Clowning as Play Stimulus in Healthcare

by Laura Anes and Marianne Obi

Children 2014, 1(3), 374-389; https://doi.org/10.3390/children1030374 - 30 Oct 2014

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 10260

Abstract

A serious illness, a chronic medical condition or a hospital bed should not deny any child her/his basic right to play, a right essential for children’s development and general wellbeing. In fact, it is in these frightening and anxious moments that play and [...] Read more.

A serious illness, a chronic medical condition or a hospital bed should not deny any child her/his basic right to play, a right essential for children’s development and general wellbeing. In fact, it is in these frightening and anxious moments that play and the stimulus that it provides can help the most. This article will focus on the impacts and benefits of professional hospital clowning for the wellbeing and recovery process of ill and hospitalized children. Our experience has shown that through interactive play and humor, “clowndoctors” can create an enabling and supportive environment that facilitates children’s adaptation to the hospital setting and improves their acceptance of medical procedures and staff. While moving from bedside to bedside, RED NOSES clowndoctors encourage children’s active participation and support their natural instinct to play, fully including them in the interaction, if the children wish to do so. Therefore, clowndoctor performances offer ill children much needed stimulus, self-confidence and courage, elements fundamental to reducing their vulnerability. In this piece, a special emphasis will be put on the various approaches used by RED NOSES clowndoctors to bond and reach out to children suffering from different medical conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Play in Children’s Health and Development)

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260 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Teenagers and Playing: Are Pastimes Like Neknominate a Usual Response to Adolescence?

by Perry Else

Children 2014, 1(3), 339-354; https://doi.org/10.3390/children1030339 - 22 Oct 2014

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 6714

Abstract

While “outside of society” for much of the last sixty years, adolescents have attracted attention in recent times because of perceptions of their anti-social and, in some cases, violent behaviour. Teenagers face many challenges on their journey to adulthood; growth spurts, hormone developments [...] Read more.

While “outside of society” for much of the last sixty years, adolescents have attracted attention in recent times because of perceptions of their anti-social and, in some cases, violent behaviour. Teenagers face many challenges on their journey to adulthood; growth spurts, hormone developments and changes in the structure of the brain. These biological challenges have been affected since around 1990 by the impact of technology and the subsequent cultural changes. Activities, like the technology-driven, socially-networked pastime, Neknomination, amongst others, meet basic drives that gym-based activities do not. Adults are increasingly concerned about unhealthy patterns of behaviour that suggest that this coming generation of adults will not live as long as their parents, causing misery and putting additional economic pressures on families and society if the expected standards of living and health are to be maintained. The pressures facing teenagers are many, but a concerted effort by adults to change their attitudes towards children and young people to help rather than instruct may assist with meeting their needs and those of society. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Play in Children’s Health and Development)

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595 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Role of Play in Children’s Palliative Care

by Sue Boucher, Julia Downing and Rise Shemilt

Children 2014, 1(3), 302-317; https://doi.org/10.3390/children1030302 - 01 Oct 2014

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 12608

Abstract

Play is the universal language of childhood and the time and opportunity to play is every child’s right. The role of play as a vehicle for communication, a tool for distraction and its value in the holistic development of a normal child is [...] Read more.

Play is the universal language of childhood and the time and opportunity to play is every child’s right. The role of play as a vehicle for communication, a tool for distraction and its value in the holistic development of a normal child is without dispute. The role and value of play increase proportionately when a child is made more vulnerable through illness or disability. Despite this, providing time and opportunities to play can be overlooked or considered to be of little importance or relevance when the focus of the adult carers is the amelioration of clinical symptoms of the illness and on lessening the psychological impact the illness may have on the child. This paper outlines the role and the value of play as an integral component in the provision of palliative care for children with chronic, life-threatening and life-limiting conditions. It will show how providing appropriate equipment, sufficient time and relevant play opportunities not only improves the very sick child’s psychological wellbeing, but also allows the child to cast aside the confines and restrictions imposed upon them by their illness and for a few golden moments to be nothing more than a child at play. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Play in Children’s Health and Development)

290 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Turning the World Upside Down: Playing as the Deliberate Creation of Uncertainty

by Stuart Lester and Wendy Russell

Children 2014, 1(2), 241-260; https://doi.org/10.3390/children1020241 - 15 Sep 2014

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 8256

Abstract

Risk is big business. It has assumed almost universal acceptance as an ever-present reality of life, something out there waiting to cause harm (most notably to political, economic and health systems). It commands vast resources to develop preventative measures that are the preserve [...] Read more.

Risk is big business. It has assumed almost universal acceptance as an ever-present reality of life, something out there waiting to cause harm (most notably to political, economic and health systems). It commands vast resources to develop preventative measures that are the preserve of experts issuing often contradictory advice and warnings. Children’s play is caught up in this account. No longer something that children just do, it is subject to adult scrutiny that simultaneously and paradoxically attempts to manage risk and promote “risk-taking” for its perceived instrumental benefits, primarily the development of risk assessing skills. Adults thus guide children’s play, rendering children passive and needy recipients of expertise. This article takes a broader perspective to consider how this contemporary understanding of risk plays out in material discursive practices in relation to childhood, play, health and wellbeing. It then draws on conceptual tools of relationality, materiality and performativity to reconfigure playing as an emergent co-production of entangled bodies, affects, objects, space and histories in ways that make life better for the time of playing. Such moments produce health-affirming potential as an intra-dependent phenomenon rather than an individual achievement. Finally, it considers implications for “health promotion” and health enabling environments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Play in Children’s Health and Development)

Review

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348 KiB

Open AccessReview

Pediatric Hospital: The Paradigms of Play in Brazil

by Lino De Macedo, Gláucia Faria Da Silva and Sandra Mutarelli Setúbal

Children 2015, 2(1), 66-77; https://doi.org/10.3390/children2010066 - 29 Jan 2015

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 6491

Abstract

The role of play in Brazilian children’s hospitals is highlighted, as well as the perspective of humanization in Brazil. Some aspects of our culture are crucial to understanding the importance of play considering our society. Sabara Children’s Hospital (“Hospital Infantil Sabará”) in Brazil [...] Read more.

The role of play in Brazilian children’s hospitals is highlighted, as well as the perspective of humanization in Brazil. Some aspects of our culture are crucial to understanding the importance of play considering our society. Sabara Children’s Hospital (“Hospital Infantil Sabará”) in Brazil is used particularly to discuss humanization. To understand the issue of play in Brazil, it is important to discuss hospitals in their social context, their history, current roles in children’s care, humanization history and child development, according to the approaches of Piaget and Winnicott that are used in our culture. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Play in Children’s Health and Development)

308 KiB

Open AccessReview

Seeking Balance in Motion: The Role of Spontaneous Free Play in Promoting Social and Emotional Health in Early Childhood Care and Education

by Jane Hewes

Children 2014, 1(3), 280-301; https://doi.org/10.3390/children1030280 - 01 Oct 2014

Cited by 36 | Viewed by 16370

Abstract

There is accumulating scientific evidence of the potential of play and playfulness to enhance human capacity to respond to adversity and cope with the stresses of everyday life. In play we build a repertoire of adaptive, flexible responses to unexpected events, in an [...] Read more.

There is accumulating scientific evidence of the potential of play and playfulness to enhance human capacity to respond to adversity and cope with the stresses of everyday life. In play we build a repertoire of adaptive, flexible responses to unexpected events, in an environment separated from the real consequences of those events. Playfulness helps us maintain social and emotional equilibrium in times of rapid change and stress. Through play, we experience flow—A feeling of being taken to another place, out of time, where we have controlled of the world. This paper argues that spontaneous free play, controlled and directed by children and understood from the child’s perspective, contributes to children’s subjective experience of well-being, building a foundation for life-long social and emotional health. The paradoxical nature of young children’s spontaneous free play is explored. Adaptability, control, flexibility, resilience and balance result from the experience of uncertainty, unpredictability, novelty and non-productivity. These essential dimensions of young children’s spontaneous free play typically produce play which is experienced by adults as chaotic, nonsensical and disruptive. The article concludes with a preliminary discussion of the challenges and possibilities of providing for spontaneous free play indoors, in early childhood care and education programs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Play in Children’s Health and Development)

Other

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288 KiB

Open AccessOpinion

Restoration of Traditional Children’s Play in Iranian Nomadic Societies (Case Study of Kohgilouyeh and Boyer Ahmad)

by Laleh Taheri and Golshan Chahian

Children 2015, 2(2), 211-227; https://doi.org/10.3390/children2020211 - 29 May 2015

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 6421

Abstract

This article aims to provide an insight into play as an important aspect of children’s lives in an under-studied area of Iran. Our observations focus on the province of Kohgilouyeh and Boyer Ahmad with its ancient nomadic cultures. Through first-hand knowledge and lived [...] Read more.

This article aims to provide an insight into play as an important aspect of children’s lives in an under-studied area of Iran. Our observations focus on the province of Kohgilouyeh and Boyer Ahmad with its ancient nomadic cultures. Through first-hand knowledge and lived experiences, supplemented by available literature, we seek to look at children’s games in the frame of culture change, exploring their relationship with children’s health and wellbeing. Play, as in every region in the world, conveys and reflects the dominant culture and teaches the values of the society in which the children live in the here and now and in which they will have to function as adults. Yet, types of play are not static. They develop alongside social, political and economic changes and embrace new forms emerging from modern lifestyles. The latter sometimes come into conflict with and challenge the local culture and traditional types of play, which are based on the lives and histories of the indigenous peoples and local communities. A sample of traditional tribal forms of play is analyzed for their health, entertainment and fun aspects. Such play allows children to prepare for life’s realities, in particular for a life of cooperation. By contrast, whilst also providing children with tools and skills for the needs of modern life, new types of play focus more on competition and individualism. This divergence expressed in different types of play widens the generation gap and contributes to alienation. The shift from a collective to individualistic lifestyle thus has an unsettling impact on the community and impacts on the emotional and physical wellbeing of children. We will describe types of play and their role in the holistic development of nomadic children, as well as the impact of modernization and social change, including sedentarization. The article will highlight some consequences of the demise of indigenous play, through observation and analytical comparison of children’s play in three generations. Based on the insights gained, the authors offer recommendations on how to restore traditional play and games through redesigning them to be capable of adaptation to changes in lifestyles. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Play in Children’s Health and Development)

1317 KiB

Open AccessCase Report

Prevention is Better than Cure: A Hands-On, Play-Based, Innovative, Health and Well-Being Program in Remote Australia

by Lis Mathiasen

Children 2014, 1(3), 318-338; https://doi.org/10.3390/children1030318 - 16 Oct 2014

Viewed by 9376

Abstract

A key to improving the quality of life in remote communities is the empowerment of children who are at health and educational risk. Between 2002 and 2009, at a remote Aboriginal school, students and community members participated in an innovative, play-based health and [...] Read more.

A key to improving the quality of life in remote communities is the empowerment of children who are at health and educational risk. Between 2002 and 2009, at a remote Aboriginal school, students and community members participated in an innovative, play-based health and well-being program aimed at helping children to become self-determining and responsible for their own health and well-being. Holistic in its approach, and broad in its scope, the multi-faceted program encompassed the fundamentals of personal hygiene; understanding of body systems; the importance of nutrition, hydration, sleep and exercise; brain care; the biology of emotions, with particular emphasis on anger management and the critical interplay between emotions and behavior; the impact of substances of abuse on the brain; as well as the Hospital Familiarization Program (HFP) which prepares children for planned and unplanned hospitalization. Program outcomes included improved school attendance and student engagement; increased community awareness of the importance of a healthy lifestyle; improved self-concept, self-esteem and self-confidence; as well as increased respect and caring for self and others. A reduction in children’s fear and anxiety when facing hospitalization and visits to the doctor was also evident. Each year, 12,500 children throughout Western Australia enjoy the benefits of the HFP. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Play in Children’s Health and Development)

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