prieto@aluxp.UUCP (PRIETO) (06/11/85)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** Our only daughter, 5 years old, is persuaded by her mom to take naps in the afternoon and mostly play inside, by herself or with us. We do not allow her to be outside without one of us being with her. She does have play time with other children her age in the mornings when she goes to child care center, my wife goes to school during that time. My wife rationale is that our daughter is tired or would get tired with the additional play and the wakingg up go and being in the child care center, shooping in the super market, etc. I know my wife is right in that the child should be allowed to nap, specially if tired , but I sometimes feel that some free play with other children in the neighborhood would be adequate, problems are that we cannot have the children inside our home since it interfers with time my wife devotes to her studies, other concer is abduction although we live in a quiet suburban neighborhood you can never be to careful specialy since she is our only daughter. Our daughter have friends normally means have the kidds across the street in our home and not viceversa, which my wife feels is not our role all the time to do that but sometimes in our home, sometime in theirs. Also finding suitable play mates and friends for her is not that easy, true as parents we are preselecting but we feel we should since we do not want to raise a rough, aggresive child. I have suggested to my wife trying to find friends in other street in our area, so that Laura could have some time of free play with other children. Again after this background it seems to me that an hour or two of free play in the late afternoon is benefitial, if the child is tired she would tend to rest when she is, I would appreciate your comments or experiences on lenght of free play, the alternate is that only children must also learn to play and be by themselves. ihnp4!aluxp!prieto
sct@lanl.ARPA (06/12/85)
> *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** > Our only daughter, 5 years old, is persuaded by her mom to take naps > in the afternoon and mostly play inside, by herself or with us. We do not allow her > to be outside without one of us being with her. She does have play time with other > children her age in the mornings when she goes to child care center, my wife goes > to school during that time. My wife rationale is that our daughter is tired or > would get tired with the additional play and the wakingg up go and being in the > child care center, shooping in the super market, etc. I know my wife is > right in that the child should be allowed to nap, specially if tired , but I > sometimes feel that some free play with other children in the neighborhood >............. We have two children ages 3 and 6 and find that they play together almost all the time especially now that summer is here. I believe that this "free play" time is very important to the development of the child. They do have other friends that come over and play also. I don't think there is such a thing as too much play time. When a child is tired of playing he/she will quit on her own. As far as naps go our 6 year old took naps until she was 4 but our 3 year old stopped taking them when he was 2 1/2. We try to have quiet times where they can rest but don't force them to take naps. I remember hating to take them when I was a kid under 6 yrs old. Steve Tenbrink sct@lanl.arpa
smuga@mtuxo.UUCP (j.smuga) (06/14/85)
I wonder, does your child seem to be unhappy with her present schedule? Is she bored, restless, or perhaps shy of other children? If your wife is happy with the status quo, and the child shows no ill effects, why press for change? On the other hand, I have encouraged my daughters, now 6 and 8, to spend part of their play time outside with the other kids on the block. I think they derive a sense of belonging from joining in with the play of the others, and it is good for them to be friendly with their neighbors. Also, they have some independence this way; they can decide when they want to go out or come back into the house. -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I've had a great many troubles in my time, and most of them never happened. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -