The Power of Play: Adult Pressure in a Teenage World

MEDFORD, Mass. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Teens spend eight hours at school, 10 hours sleeping … add on two hours for sports and two hours for homework and that leaves just two hours of free time a day. Are we putting too much pressure on the next generation? Experts say even big kids need some time to play.

"I get up at 7; school 8 to 1:30; SAT class 2 to 4; work 5 to 10; come home; study; get to bed by 12 or 12:30 at the earliest."

That's the life of high school student Taylor. Her schedule is repeated by teen after teen after teen all across America.

"I'm always tired at school," Taylor told Ivanhoe.

Lack of just plain free time is setting up the younger generation for some very adult problems.

"In adolescence, play is a way of finding your identity and searching out your identity," David Elkind, Ph.D., a professor emeritus at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., explained.

More teens are being diagnosed with depression than ever before. Twenty percent of high schoolers have suicidal thoughts. One in three high schoolers have been in a physical fight this year. Fourteen percent of adolescents in the United States are overweight and at risk for heart disease, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Experts say lack of play is one reason this is happening.

"They become social isolates," Dr. Elkind said.

The typical teen watches three hours and 20 minutes of TV a day. They're on the Internet 11 hours a month. Although they may not notice the effects now, it could hit them in a few years.

"We're seeing college-level young people that are less imaginative, less creative and so on. Our competitive edge is being lost, and I think part of that has to do with the fact that children are playing less as children," Dr. Elkind said.

Lee Rush, executive director of JustCommunity, Inc. in Quakertown, Penn., has made it his life's work to help young people lighten up.

"I think there are things in our culture that give us indirect messages that when we get older, we should be more serious, less silly -- maybe more focused on the "real" things in life," Rush said.

Rush's play session is scheduled at an alternative high school for teens, but on this particular morning, game playing seems like a tough sell.

"I thought, 'This is going to be stupid," student Bria Woodall said. "I might as well do it to get out of class.'"

"I kind of had a rocky morning," student David Hernandez explained. "What am I gonna go out there and PLAY for? It ain't gonna do nothing."

Play is crucial for kids, strengthening their bodies, sparking creativity, and helping build social skills. Rush's games for big kids engage the mind and the body. They foster cooperation, rather than competition. The activities are part of a movement called the "New Games" philosophy.

"I think of New Games as a metaphor for life," Rush said. "If you think about how we're living our lives, are people playing fair, are they playing hard, is anybody hurt?"

Rick Pforter is a trained counselor participating in today's session. He says during play, people relax and let their guard down.

"I can learn a whole lot more about a kid, watching him play than sitting down and talking to him for an hour," Pforter explained.

After just one hour of play, even those who were reluctant joined in.

"Then I come out here and they got the parachutes going," Hernandez said. "They got the potato, and that thing going on. Everybody else around me was smiling and laughing and it brought a smile and laugh out of me."

This type of fun gives young adults the ability to be more flexible, adaptable and resilient.

"What surprised you most about being out here? I actually had fun," Woodall said.

So for teens, maybe less stress is the secret to success … and that goes for us all!

Studies show that by age 23, more than one-third of kids who had gone to play-free schools had been arrested for a felony as compared with one-tenth of play-oriented school alums.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Lee Rush, lrush@enter.net