The emergence ofprofessional

play specialists

Quick! What’s the opposite of “play”?

Most of us — including children — donot need to spend much time thinkingabout the answer to that question. Wedon’t need to grab a thesaurus or race toour favorite web site or consult with

Susan Oliver is executive director of the national non-profit

organization Playing for Keeps. She devotes

her time to promoting and protecting the role

of play in our culture. Prior to her association

with Playing for Keeps, Ms. Oliver served in

various positions at the National Lekotek

Center, a national non-profit organization dedicated to

making play accessible to children with disabilities and the

Family Resource Coalition of America, a national non-profit

organization committed to building community-based

support and resources for children and families.

Edgar Klugman is the co-founder of Playing

for Keeps as well as professor emeritus of

Early Childhood Education and Care at

Wheelock College in Boston, Massachusetts.

He is also a charter member of the Play,

Policy, and Practice Interest Forum within the National

Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Among his publications are Play, Policy and Practice (Redleaf

Press), and Children’s Play and Learning: Perspectives and

Policy Implications (edited with Smilansky; Teachers College

Press). He currently serves on the board of New England

AEYC.

56 E x c h a n g e January/February 2006

tioners, and advocates from all over theworld was concern about the role ofparents in a child’s access to good play.

Embracing professionalswhile encouraging

parents

As an early childhood educator, perhapsthe idea of professionalizing play givesyou pause. On the one hand, we knowabout the powerful link between playand learning, so of course we want highquality play experiences for youngchildren. Trained professionals can be akey resource in delivering such experi-ences. On the other hand, we hope thathappy and healthy play is a part of eachfamily’s lifestyle — encouraged byparents who embrace the idea of aplayful home — and we don’t wantparents to become inhibited about theirplay instincts because they don’t havethe status of a professional playfacilitator.

While we heartily applaud efforts toincrease the cadre of well-trained andeven credentialed play specialists, atPlaying for Keeps we also want toensure that parents’ involvement in playis supported and valued. One type of“parent influencer” who is uniquelypositioned to ensure that parents don’tlose confidence in their own play, using

Helping Parents Stay Confident inTheir Own Playful Instincts

by Susan J! Oliver and Edgar Klugman

anyone to figure it out. We get thepicture starting when we are very young:work is the opposite of play. Given thechoice, we would much rather play thanwork.

It may seem curious, then, that these twowords are being put together in a new“profession” that is emerging in someparts of the world. “Playworkers,” so farfound mostly in Europe, Australia,Canada, and some Asian and SouthAmerican countries, are trained facilita-tors of children’s play in settings like“parks and playgrounds, afterschoolchildren’s centers, children’s museums,children’s hospitals, toy libraries, familyentertainment centers, play gardens,zoos, centers for children with specialneeds, and many others,” according tothe American Association for the Child’sRight to Play (www.ipausa.org).

Growing the ranks of these play profes-sionals, along with setting standards forplay, formalizing training and credential-ing programs, and advocating for moreplayworkers in recreational areas fundedby municipal governments were frequenttopics of discussion at last summer’swell-regarded International Play Associa-tion conference in Berlin, Germany (July2005). Less prominent among the highlyinformative presentations made by playresearchers, playground builders, practi-

In a world of professional play specialists

Play

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Multiple use copy agreement available for educators by request.

January/February 2006 E x c h a n g e 57

Play

professionals in preschools and, in somestates, child care centers.

Why parents need tobe confident about

their role in play What is different about play, one couldargue — and why we should avoidletting parents lose confidence in theirown role — is that play is a naturalactivity in which kids and parents willengage pretty much by instinct. Forparents, the fun and natural aspects ofplay can serve to:

■ Keep them involved and physicallypresent with their children during non-school or non-work hours, rather thanopt to turn on the television or put chil-dren in yet more lessons or activities

■ Help them know their children’spersonalities, stresses, preferences, andmore

■ Reinforce their confidence about theirown parenting thanks to the relation-ship building that results from healthyplay

■ Provide a way to contribute to theirchild’s learning, even if the parent doesnot have the skills, confidence, or timeto play an active role in helping withhomework or participate with school orchild care center events

Your unique role inbuilding parents’

confidence

In your child care setting or preschool,you are a valued source of informationabout parenting, and about specific ideasto encourage the healthy development ofspecific children. So what can you do to“inoculate” parents against ceding theterritory of play to professionals?

As early care and education professionals,we have a wide repertoire of things to do

their own ideas, with their own kids, isyou — the early childhood educator.

Parallels with thetransformation of

teachers into specialists

Lest we minimize the potential risk ofparents being professionalized out oftheir own children’s play, think aboutthe history of American schools andteachers. Our nineteenth century educa-tional system looked for qualities inteachers that were similar to thosebelieved to be present in a good mother:high morality, dependable social con-formity, strong nurturing and parentalimpulses, and lack of distraction from“worldly forces” (Spring, 2001, p. 138).

Early teacher training largely system-atized what were considered to bestandard norms and objectives in theclassroom (e.g., basic functional skillsand the development of moral charac-ter), which kept teacher expertiseclosely aligned with parental expertise.It wasn’t until the mid-1800s thattheories of learning were developed thateventually required teachers to havehighly specialized expertise that wasdecidedly different from parentalexpertise. “One of the major intellectualrevolutions that accompanied the devel-opment of teacher training was the ideathat people could be taught how toteach,” notes Joel Spring, professor ofEducation at the City University of NewYork (Spring, 2001, p. 145).

During the twentieth century, this leadto new, more modern objectives for edu-cation; the requirements of significanthigher education and credentials forteachers; and the expectation that par-ents would defer to professional teach-ers on matters relating to theirchildren’s education. More recently, thistrend has moved down the age rangeinto expectations of highly trained

with children, based on our knowledgeabout how to set up the early childhoodlearning environment, how to facilitateplay, and when to step back and letchildren manage a play situation ontheir own. Most parents do not havethis level of training or experience.Moreover, they face many demandsevery day, and when they come homefrom work, their day is rarely finished.As if a day of handling on-the-jobstresses is not enough, coming homemeans facing dinner, laundry, chores,bills, and sometimes tired or crabbykids. Creating a playful evening andhome environment may not be their toppriority — and indeed, it may appearattractive to let play be the bailiwick ofprofessionals.

You can help by keeping it simple,offering ideas that solve problems andcan realistically be implemented,constantly reinforcing the fun andpositive role of play, and remindingparents they are good at it — naturally.For example:

Proclaim the message early and often.Throughout the year, reinforce the ideathat there is no substitute for parentinvolvement in play, and that good playgenerally comes naturally to kids andfamilies. You can include this messagein open houses, newsletters, on yourweb site, in parent conferences, at pick-up and delivery time, on parentbulletin boards, and more.

Be realistic. Respond to the real-lifeissues parents face. Let parents knowyou understand the stresses they face(which no doubt you do if you are aparent, too!). Create some parent timefor reflection about how to use familyplay as a positive, stress-relievingantidote to a busy day. Why not host aworkshop titled: “Coming HomeExhausted!” or “After Five, ThenWhat?” to let a group of parents thinkof ways to promote family-centered andself-initiated play at home?

58 E x c h a n g e January/February 2006

Play

Help them remember what childhoodfun was like. Most parents can retrievememories of their own play as youngchildren. This is a rich source that can betransformed into expanding a parent’srepertoire about play, and children love tohear about their parents’ favorite activi-ties and toys. Encourage them to remem-ber and use their memories to bringsimple play ideas into their home today.Was it hide-and-go seek? Riding in thewagon down an incline? Building withsticks and stones in the backyard? Look-ing out the window, and watching thebirds, the cars, and the people passing by?Remind parents that play does not needto be complicated or use fancy toys or kitsto be fun and rewarding.

Let them take ready-to-go play materialshome. Some child care centers and publiclibraries have introduced toy lendinglibraries. (For information about toylibraries around the country, check out theU.S.A. Toy Library Association athttp://usatla.deltacollege.org/.) In yourown school or center, it’s easy to keep itsimple. Engage a parent volunteer to setup a Learning Pantry where children cantake home — to keep — collage kits inbrown paper bags filled with paper,popsicle sticks, recycled materials fromfactories, and some cut outs frommagazines. Add sign-out games, book,and CDs that families can borrow for oneor several days. Establishing such a centercan be an effective focus for a parentfundraising project.

Remind parents about the basics. Kidslike to be with mom and dad. Find a jobto let them help with making dinner. Letthem pull out pots and pans to keepthemselves occupied while you cook —no need for fancy toys. Let parents knowthat the plain cardboard box was justadded to the National Toy Hall of Fame, aplace where classic toys most beloved tochildren are honored and memorialized.

Let them know they are doing just fine.Central to a parent’s confidence is anunderstanding that they are getting itright — whatever “right” means for theirchild and family. You probably have moreinfluence than you know on the wayparents feel about their parenting. Begenerous with positive feedback andsupportive of their efforts to be a playfulfamily.

Play need not be work for moms anddads, but it should be a family prioritythat they enjoy and about which they feeljust great when they have devoted timeand energy to it. There is an importantrole for dedicated professional playspecialists, and the children in your carewill no doubt learn much from themduring their childhood. But they needtheir parents as well. You can help thefamily develop the confidence and skillsto make sure that, at home, play and workare opposites in most family activities.

ReferencesFrom the American Association for theChild’s Right to Play website, November15, 2005; www.ipausa.org/playwork.htm.

Spring, Joel. (2001). The American School:1642-2000. Boston: McGraw Hill.