Give children more time to play: Experts
Give children more time to play: Experts
Debbie A. Lubis
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Children, by nature, love to play, but tougher competition ahead
has prompted their parents to overzealously enroll them into
extensive extracurricular educational activities aimed at
bolstering their academic performance.
Not to mention those who are economically unfortunate,
Indonesian children nowadays are often forced to use their time
scraping around for additional income for the family. In some
cases, child street beggars have become the main wage earners in
several families.
Child psychologists and activists have sent an early warning
to parents about the worrying trend of burnt-out children, which
they say will jeopardize the children's personality development.
Some have even gone so far as to claim that denying a child
enough play or leisure time is tantamount to a violation of a
child's basic human rights.
The fundamental right to be treated as a child, thus
allocating considerable time for both study and play, highlights
the children's protection bill currently being debated at the
House of Representatives.
Soetrisno Kusumohadi, chairman of Communication Forum for
Indonesian Children's Development, is among those who believe
that leisure time is as important as study to children's
development and consequently must be protected in the bill.
"Playing is an essential need for children. Demanding children
to become number one at school and forcing them to join many
extracurricular academic activities will lead them into a
depression," he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Many parents in big cities pressure their children to join
scientific courses such as mathematics, English and physics, or
courses such as ballet dancing, singing, traditional dance and
musical instruments after school hours.
Reports said the phenomenon of suicide or joining youth gangs
among children in Japan was a result of frustration and pressure
from the school atmosphere.
Learning from Japan's lesson, psychologist Adriana S. Ginanjar
suggested that parents give children more opportunities to play
or to take rest or else they would lose their childhood years.
"Childhood lays the foundation to someone's emotional and
intelligence development because, through playing, a child learns
how to show empathy and relate to others, respect each other
opinions ...," Adriana told the Post.
She said children who rarely spent time for playing could
excel in job but not in interpersonal skills. "They will grow as
insensitive, boastful, and socially ignorant adults," she
claimed.
Parents, she added, must develop their children's potential
and creativity through playing because children tend to perceive
studying as an obligation.
Adriana also warned parents against treating their children as
a cash cow for the family.
"Parents should wisely plan their children's future. Many
children lose their self-identity because they are forced to
sacrifice their childhood for the sake of money," she said.
Adriana said that parents of young TV stars should be prepared
for losing their children's glimmering years someday.
"Maybe the child stars do not mind working because of the
money and fame they enjoy, but they will regret someday that they
never had a chance to have fun with their peers," she said.