A child expresses her love for life through play.
It’s natural. We are born with the gifts for spontaneity, fluidity, improvisation, acceptance, creativity, presence and a delight for learning.
Given the slightest chance, children will form roving groups of peers that romp outdoors, far from the supervision of adults.
A child who loses this freedom, soon loses her love for life too. By her early tweens, the play-deprived child becomes anxious, depressed, stressed, violent or withdrawn.
The single most powerful thing we can do as parents might be to get out of the way, so our children get every chance they can to play together.