Recreation, much more important than we think
On the first autumnal afternoon of the very long summer, a mother confesses to me, prey to an incomprehensible anxiety, that she is very worried about the cold that her son can spend, a boy of the most beautiful in his wonderful seven years of age, in the school recess. It is important to indicate that both of us live in Madrid and, since that of climate change, we only see snow on TV news. Come, at 11 o'clock in the morning it is very difficult for a child, adolescent or young person not impeded by added pathologies, to fall prey to a hypothermia for being half an hour in the street.
The woman was walking, mother delivered, very nervous also for the "second patio", the break between lunchtime and the return to the classrooms in the afternoon. She considered it "excessive" and, as she thought, in her generous kindness to her children who could fall into boredom, had pointed them to an endless number of extra-curricular activities so that they would not be "so long" that time of recreation.
I treated the mother with the affection she deserves but with the same affection I showed her why I consider recess to be essential and not at all harmful, let's look at where we look at it. From what is very good we can already realize when we ask any child in the world around your favorite subject at school: playground or playground They are the most repeated. Some add Physical Education. The rest, obviously, requires effort. And that does not mean that our children are doomed to the greatest of academic and professional failures. It means they are normal. So we should not worry.
On the contrary, recreation is fundamental. More now if it fits in the times of tablets and mobile phones. At recess they go outdoors.
Cold sometimes, wet others, but always air. Nothing that a good coat can not solve. Because it turns out that, without being an alarmist, our children are going blind. I mean it. The data shows that this culture focused on looking closely and less and less prone to open spaces is causing a true epidemic of early myopia that will end in a terrible proliferation of great shortsightedness and all its added problems. So breathing and looking away are two elements to add to our idea of "healthy living".
The second aspect is very simple: at recess children play with other childrenSometimes they quarrel, they get angry, they even blow a swipe. And teenagers gossip with other teenagers, sometimes criticize, and cry for the beloved who spends miles of them ... That is, they do what they have to do: interact in freedom with the peer group with which they will learn, from the most natural way in the world, to socialize. Children will resolve disputes and reach agreements. The elders will learn that flies do not enter the mouth, they will forge friendships for life and discover the complicated path of the first crushes. And if we do not leave them time and space to live those experiences, they will not have them and they will have lost a fundamental part of their path to adulthood. I do not use the idea that while they "do judo" they are with other children, because that is not free play.
The last reason is that we have to Give our children the possibility that they do not hate school. If all they do in that building is study, strive, solve exercises and follow the guidelines of some adults, we will not generate empathy links with that environment, there will be no happy, positive memories. Let's not kid ourselves, the kid who says he wants to go back to school to study more mates is a bit weird guy. The normal thing is that children choose to be on vacation the more free the better and, failing that, they want to return to school to be with their friends, not in the classroom, but in the playground. If we have managed to make that happen, they will go to school happy even if they grumble about 'mates' as much as humanity has done up to now. And now, remember for a moment that illusion to hear the doorbell that gave way to the best of the day: the recess.
It may interest you: - The snack at recess and its importance - The school playground, a space to educate - Choose school for children - 10 tips to choose bilingual school
