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We were grateful to
be invited to a couple's home for dinner along with a group of friends and
their children. Our sons were fourteen and ten and still at an age when they
did not make a stink about going to functions with their parents. Before
dinner, we engaged in conversation with the other adults but our
sons were doing a very mild form of rough-and-tumble with boys from another family – arm grabbing
and shadow boxing. I'm sure you've seen this when your kids were growing up but
was not concerned nor the parents of the other boys because we were accustomed
to that sort of behavior from our children. We knew that no one would get hurt,
and they were smiling. Suddenly a woman burst into the room, upset that they
were behaving in such an immature, bullying manner, at a house party. I calmly
said: "Guys, stop doing that, okay?" more to appease her than to
admonish the kids for doing what was natural for them.
Rough-and-tumble activity was a regular part of our children's
existence, and over the years we intervened to prevent bodily harm or verbal
harassment when encounters were a bit too aggressive. It was parental judgment
to make that call to be either permissive or restrictive, but considering the
vast number of hours devoted to play, my wife and I rarely had to interfere. We
felt it was a key part of their expressive and engagement personality
development, particularly in the domain of control, not just body movements but
also interpersonal relationships, factors discussed throughout this book.
Empowerment is good when moderated in child development because it establishes
boundaries for subsequent domestic and vocational associations. In hindsight,
it would have been better if I was more cognizant of what the boys were up to,
but they understood the subtlety between play outdoors and this party venue,
opting for an indoor version of the more robust rough-and-tumble they did on
our lawn. Though they usually pursued
video games, television, and toys, wrestling
and goofing around was part of the daily routine between our boys, their
cousins, and neighborhood children.
However, was it
inappropriate to allow such daily engagement? Would our boys turn out to be
aggressive bullies in their teens by goofing around in their
pre adolescent years? Neither of our sons became bullies and are productive
members of society. Play was a major part of their youth and my wife
and I felt that it was healthy, acquiring toys, Legos, and video games.
Exploration and interaction were promoted in our household along with museum,
ballgames, and nature site visits even when they goofed around a bit because it
was our contention that those experiences had far-reaching effects on both
their social and cognitive development. As college graduates, we had lofty
expectations for them in school as well as their subsequent domestic lives with
spouses and children and exposing them to many psychomotor, cultural, and academic opportunities
was foremost in our parenting style. Their behavior at that party may have been
deemed inappropriate by one person but the rest of us acknowledged that
rough-and-tumble is natural in children.
Play
These chapters are
written to make parents and teachers aware of play's ability to activate the
brain to promote both cognitive and emotional development in children. I am
addressing the encounters between children that is recognized as play,
rough-and-tumble, and not just the vestibular activities mentioned in the previous chapter
(rolling, crawling, swinging, and movements that stimulates cerebellum-frontal
lobe-midbrain connections).
You will see from
animal research as well as observations by psychologists, that limiting play
can be detrimental to a child, minimizing his or her capacity to nurture
healthy relationships, including feelings of empathy, or carry out simple conversations with
relatives, friends, and colleagues. The emotional and thinking apparatus work
in unison in our species and psychologists believe that play is a necessary
element in child development. The rough-and-tumble my boys demonstrated at that
party was perhaps out of line from someone's etiquette perspective but
nevertheless an example of a developmental tactic for their age including a
measure of self-control in the encounter as they became empowered in
the physicality of socialization, testing the boundaries of interactive behavior with the boys from the other family
and manipulated their neuromuscular functionality.
So, what does science
say about rough-and-tumble? What are the neurological
consequences of this controlled physicality? In his book, Free to Learn, Peter Gray goes to great lengths justifying the value of
play by examining many
research studies that substantiate the importance of what he terms free play, that is, play not
manipulated by adults. He states that it "is nature's way of teaching
children how to solve their own problems, control their impulses, and get along
with others".1 (p.18)
Mammalian play
Research suggests
that rough-and-tumble is healthy for children and a necessary
component in their emotional development. For one, institutional studies have
compared the behavior of adult mammals that were deprived of socialization with
those that had species-specific rough-and-tumble experiences.
Rats raised in
stimulating environments, for instance, not only have larger brains but are
smarter as evidenced by navigating faster through mazes than unstimulated rats.2,3
Jaak Panksepp, professor of neuroscience at Bowling
Green State University, found that the rough-and-tumble activates a set of complex neurological
processes. The increased thickness of gray matter therefore is not only due to
the proliferation of brain cells, what is referred as neuroplasticity, but also the branching of dendrites on the nerve axons, interconnections to other cells. The
activation is biochemical in that immediately after undergoing rough-and-tumble or explorative play, juvenile rats activate
the cellular production of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein. BDNF is associated with growth, maintenance, and
development of brain cell connections. The activation involves the amygdala and dorsolateral frontal cortex regions in the
brain, places linked to decision-making and emotional development.4,5
Why is play important in mammals?
Mammalian species are unique in that a significant adaptation to the world
includes socialization comprising such behaviors as the cooperative rearing of
young, foraging, and defense from predators. Juvenile play is an evolutionary
means to cope with emergencies, to survive in the cruel and unpredictable wild.
Scientists observed a host of rough-and-tumble behaviors that appear vicious but are part of
a sequence that coincides with the development of a skill set that prepares the
organism to cope with interactions with members of their own species as well as
novel situations in their environment. Cognitive development overall seems to
be related to the amount of juvenile play behavior, too.
This was
substantiated in a study where rats were reared in separate cages and
subsequently observed for fear and aggression in various standard behavior tests in
adulthood. The isolated rats did not develop the emotional and impulse control of socialized rats and were abnormally fearful
and aggressive in adulthood, not encountering rough-and-tumble play in their pre-adult life as did the
community rats.6
While these
experiments are never conducted with humans, modified versions have been
performed with rhesus monkeys, a primate species. The team evaluated the behavior of
monkeys that were only
socialized by their mothers for one year compared to monkeys that were raised
normally with frequent interaction with peers. Mother monkeys interact but do not
play with their offspring, but juvenile peers play frequently in monkey
communities. As young adults, the mother-only socialized monkeys demonstrated
excessive fear and aggression when faced with social signals and invitations
from peers such as grooming and other friendly overtures. The authors
concluded: "the frequency of
unsupervised interactions with peers during rearing is an important factor in
the development of competent social behavior".7
Rough-and-tumble
Are there studies
that examined analogous social behavioral in humans? Are exploration and
rough-and-tumble a necessary component in the emotional
development of a human being? There have been many studies that suggest that
like their mammalian counterparts, rough-and-tumble encounters are important in
the development of temperament that mitigates aggression and extends to various forms of cognizance.
For one,
rough-and-tumble play is more prevalent in males. The major
determinant is the testosterone level in early infanthood, but female
offspring will demonstrate more physical activity including significant
preference for boys' toys and activities if their mothers have higher levels of
serum testosterone during pregnancy.8
In addition, the
amount of time spent in rough-and-tumble encounters peak during elementary school and
declines in middle school. Boys generally engage in physical play more than
girls and prefer to play with boys, while girls will select both boys and
girls. Boys enjoy wrestling and holding each other down, while girls prefer
chasing games.8
Besides
rough-and-tumble, Ellen Sandseter, associate professor of Physical
Education at Queen Maud University College observed an array of juvenile
behaviors labeled as 'risky' play on playgrounds in Norway, England, and
Australia, breaking them down into six categories: exploring heights,
experiencing high speed, handling dangerous tools, being near dangerous
elements (like water or fire), rough-and-tumble play (like wrestling), and
wandering away from adult supervision. The most common is climbing heights and
as a child becomes more skilled in the endeavors they gain a sense of mastery
that embraces physical and emotional achievement.
She concludes:
The best thing is to
let children encounter these challenges from an early age, and they will then
progressively learn to master them through their play over the years…. children
are using the same habituation techniques developed by therapists to help
adults conquer phobias…the dangers seemed to be outweighed by the benefits of
conquering fear and developing a sense of mastery.9
Studies of playground
activity observes boys more involved in physically active play that revolves around
issues of dominance and status.10 If there is a distinction it would
be that girls build a greater sense of community in their language as part of
their play engagement.
Their conversation indicates that they are concerned with being nice, and creating intimacy and solidarity within their friendship groups, wishing to be seen by their friends as moral and lovable.11 Nevertheless, I observed girls participating in competitive games next to our boys' contests when I was in grade school as well as other settings during recess through the years. Similarly, Panksepp videotaped children at play and scored twenty behaviors such as chasing, wrestling, pushing from the front, pushing from the back, and laughing and found no distinction between boys and girls.4
Their conversation indicates that they are concerned with being nice, and creating intimacy and solidarity within their friendship groups, wishing to be seen by their friends as moral and lovable.11 Nevertheless, I observed girls participating in competitive games next to our boys' contests when I was in grade school as well as other settings during recess through the years. Similarly, Panksepp videotaped children at play and scored twenty behaviors such as chasing, wrestling, pushing from the front, pushing from the back, and laughing and found no distinction between boys and girls.4
Parent-child play
Richard Fletcher, pediatrician, and professor at the
University of Newcastle in Australia, feels that high-quality rough-and-tumble sessions can be very meaningful when a parent
is involved, and this interaction is often with dad. This occurs when the
parent is attentive and playful, and communicates enjoyment during the
competition, attuned to the child's abilities and interests and can motivate
the child to re-engage, maintaining a balance between actively challenging the
child and then letting him gain the advantage through winning.12
There is an
additional benefit in the realm of empowerment. Play fighting between dad and sons validates the physical
self-control they'll need later as boyfriends, partners,
and fathers themselves. Fathers can find the balance between their young sons
enjoying themselves and getting frustrated or hurt by using rules for their
sons (no punching, kicking, etc.) and by asking how they're doing as their play-fighting
progresses. Learning these physical boundaries is a critical first step in
assertiveness training.13
Deeper implication
John Byers, Professor of Zoology at the University of Idaho, found that
the peaking of rough-and-tumble occurs in childhood
and diminishes during puberty, a period corresponding with the cerebellum's growth curve, the highest concentration of nerve cells in
the brain. This region was believed for many years to be the coordination and
motor control center, but recent scans have shown that it is also linked to
other cognitive functions mentioned in the previous chapter, among them
attention, language processing, and sensing music rhythm. It is his contention
that….
…..the
cerebellum needs the whole-body movements of play to achieve its ultimate
configuration and the movements in play activate neural pathways that accompany
motor and thinking skills.14
Combine this with
Panksepp's examination of neuroplasticity in the prefrontal
cortex during play, a place
where goal-directed behaviors occur, and you derive a complement of necessary
developmental features in an organism. He also found that the prefrontal cortex
is modulated by arousal from the midbrain, notably the amygdala, a place where sensory data is interpreted for emotional
value to ascertain whether the individual initiates fight or flight or ignores the input.
Essentially, play serves to activate a
host of processing mechanisms as a unit. Byers contends that through
play the brain is making sense of itself by performing simulations and testing
objects and people.
Stuart Brown, psychiatrist, and founder of The National Institute for
Play, feels that plays results in enormous changes in the
development of the brain, specifically dendritic sprouting or neurogenesis, the interconnecting of millions of neurons.
Play's process
of capturing a pretend narrative and combining it with the reality of one's
experience in a playful setting is, at least in childhood, how we develop our
major personal understanding of how the world works. We do so initially by
imagining possibilities – simulating what might be, and then testing this
against what actually is.15
Consider what happens
when a toddler manipulates toys, using the language he or she is developing, to
sort them based on preferences. That is why Brown contends that elements
of our personality, our actions, and belief system are derived from the
enormous number of encounters in our daily lives. Play seems to be the most
"advanced method nature has invented to allow a complex brain to create
itself".15
There is a genetic component that serves
as the blueprint for making the ninety to one hundred billion nerve cells at
birth, even differentiating regions for diverse purposes. However, the person
molds into a unique creation because of the vast neuronal interconnections, the
consequence of watching and engaging in life's many pursuits such as sports,
physical activities, reading, storytelling, crafts, and media.15
After 6,000 life histories
After reviewing more
than six-thousand life histories covering a broad spectrum of people including
murderers and criminals, Brown asserts the following:16
1. Play-deprived children are dysfunctional in
several ways encompassing "emotional control, social competency, personal resiliency, and
continuing curiosity".
2. Successful
adults have a rich play life. Adults that don't play are often inflexible,
humorless, and react to stress with violence and
depression.
3. Though well-meaning,
teachers will suppress natural rough-and-tumble activity of three to five-year-olds to
maintain the quiet and order they believe is part of a quality classroom.
Establishing a quiet environment has a significant function, of course, but
schools need to understand that there should be "play hygiene in
preschools" and recognize the difference between "out of control
boundary-less anarchy, and normal rambunctious play, along with the smiling and
friendship generated during those periods".
4. Adult temperament, talents, and passions make up an
individual's emotional profile and reflect their childhood play existence.
Reminiscing about those periods can help an adult connect to what excites them
about life. It may even inspire them to change vocations to leave the drudgery
of their current existence to find more joy and fulfillment.
The cardiovascular enhancement
Furthermore, a 2004 panel
of thirteen noted researchers in fields ranging from kinesiology to pediatrics
conducted a massive review of more than eight hundred and fifty studies about
the effects of physical activity on school-age children. Based on compelling
evidence, the panel issued a recommendation that school children participate in
one hour (or more) of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day. Looking
specifically at academic performance, the panel found enough evidence to
support the findings of the California studies, and it also reported that
physical activity has a positive influence on memory, concentration, and
classroom behavior.4
Hillman, Castelli, and
Buck at The University of Illinois considered the fitness-thinking correlation
further by evaluating twenty-four children (mean age = 9.6 years) to ascertain
neuroelectric and behavioral responses to a stimulus discrimination task using
the aerobic capacity, muscle strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and
body composition criterion of Fitnessgram. They found that children with higher
scores also had higher neuroelectric indices of attention and working memory, as
well as cognitive processing speed. Castelli found that body mass index and aerobic fitness correlated best with
the cognitive scores.5,6
Probably the best
correlational study for fitness and memory capacity was done by Kramer's group where forty-nine 7-10-year-olds were tested and the
brain scanned using fMRI. By setting up a virtual reality treadmill in his laboratory
the fitness level was obtained (from breath analysis for maximum oxygen uptake,
VO2 max) and fMRI scanned the hippocampal region.
The results
showed that the more fit students (higher VO2 max) had twelve
percent larger hippocampal volumes (relative to total
brain volume) than their out-of-shape peers. In addition, the more fit students
had better scores on relational memory tests.
Conclusion
Activation of
cellular secretion of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein is associated with support and survival of
existing neurons, and stimulating the growth and
differentiation of new neurons and synapses. Allowing juvenile rats to experience
normal rough-and-tumble activity correlates with the production of BDNF, larger brains, higher intelligence, and better
socialization than those that are deprived of such activity. The evidence from observations
in primates suggests that human neurological development
is correlative.
Through the physical
interactions associated with rough-and-tumble and explorative play along with taking
risks incrementally, children learn how they can be empowered as valued members
of a group through social interaction. Successful participation in this play
makes children more attentive in both signaling and detecting signals — a
social proficiency they will need and use throughout their lives. As in other
mammalian species, activation of the processes that enhance social and
cognitive development coincide with all the vestibular elements that come with play. Because
this give-and-take mimics successful conversations and interactions, the roles
practiced and learned in rough-and-tumble play and explorative challenges provide children
with the social knowledge needed to nurture solidarity with their home and work
communities.
The human is designed
to organize a vast network of nerve axons through dendrite connections to produce a distinct personality,
shaped by the many environmental stimuli, particularly the activity of
encounters and play.17 A child's play life not only activates a host
of neurological functions but is related to emotional stability and happiness
in adulthood.
Find play sanctuaries in your area. Jaak
Panksepp, professor of neuroscience at Bowling
Green State University, recommends them because
Play sanctuaries could provide more children with
the free play they often don’t get in the modern world. There are also places where children can be
instructed 'naturally' in good behaviors, and those who have difficulty playing
might be given special attention. We think children can learn many good social
skills in this way.4
Shopping centers
often have small areas with soft low-height devices for children where they can
run, climb, and interact. Rules of parental supervision are mounted at the
entrance. In my locale, The Betty Brinn Children's Museum provides multiple play units "dedicated
to providing interactive exhibits and educational resources that
promote the healthy development of children in their formative years—from birth
through age ten. The Museum experience encourages hands-on learning and the development of fundamental
skills, self-esteem, and the ability to work with others".18 It
is a place that empowers children by providing a wide variety of encounters
that stimulate psychomotor and cooperation. Check to see if such a play
venue is in your region.
Risky Play
Based on what is called the non-associative theory, the cause of
anxiety in children such as heights
and strangers is to shield them from scenarios they do not have the maturity to
handle. There is a thrilling sensation when they perform risky play to stimuli
they previous feared. They overcome the fear by developing the coping skills by
experiencing this play. Ellen Sandseter concludes that risky play
is a behavior in children to generate an anti-phobic effect as part of normal
child development. Hindering these experiences in childhood may lead to
neuroticism and psychopathy in society.9
Due to litigation, New York
City officials have asked the recreation department to remove several familiar
playground items such as merry-go-rounds, seesaws, Tarzan-style platform rope
swings, and other equipment that allow children to experience risky behavior,
particularly those that involve height-related accidents.
“Children approach thrills and risks in a progressive manner, and
very few children would try to climb to the highest point for the first time
they climb. The best thing is to let children encounter these challenges from
an early age, and they will then progressively learn to master them through
their play over the years,” said Sandseter
Experts on Play
Anthony Pellegrini, Educational
Psychologists at the University of Minnesota
"You learn
those skills by interacting with your peers, learning what's acceptable, what's
not acceptable. They want this thing to keep going, so they're willing to go
the extra mile to accommodate others' desires."10
Marc Bekoff, evolutionary biologist, the
University of Colorado at Boulder
"Play is
like a kaleidoscope in that it is random and creative. It encourages
flexibility and creativity that may, in the future, be advantageous in
unexpected situations or new environments."19
Sergio Pellis, behavioral neuroscientist, the
University of Lethbridge in Alberta
"A child who
has had a rich exposure to social play experiences is more likely to become an
adult who can manage unpredictable social situations."20
Leif Kennair, Norwegian University of Science
and Technology, and Ellen Sandseter, Queen Maud University College
"Paradoxically,
we posit that our fear of children being harmed by mostly harmless injuries may
result in more fearful children and increased levels of psychopathology."9
References
1. Gray, P., (2013). Free to Learn: why unleashing the instinct to play will make our
children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life, New
York: Basic Books.
2. Greenough, W., Black, J., (1992). Induction of brain structure by experience:
substrates for cognitive development. In: Gunnar MR, Nelson CA, eds.
Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology: Developmental Neuroscience. Vol 24.
Hillside, NJ: Lawrence A Erlbaum Associates: 155-200
3. Siviy, S. (2008). Effects of prepubertal social
experiences on the responsiveness of juvenile rats to predator odors. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 32, 1249-1258.
4. Gordon, N., Burke S., Akil, H., Watson, S.,
Panksepp, J. (April 2003). Socially-induced brain 'fertilization': play
promotes brain derived neurotrophic factor transcription in the amygdala and
dorsolateral frontal cortex in juvenile rats. Neurosci Lett. 24; 341(1):17-20.
5. Huber, R., Tononi, G., Cirelli, C., (February
2007). Exploratory behavior, cortical BDNF expression, and sleep homeostasis, Sleep. 30(2):129-39.
6. Einon, D., Morgan, M., Kibbler, C., (May
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Developmental Psychobiology, Volume 11, Issue 3, pages 213–225.
7. Kempes M., Gulickx., van Daalen H., Louwerse
A., Sterck E., (February 2008). Social
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8. Frost, J., Wortham, S., Reifel, S., (2001). Play and Child Development. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. p. 241.
9. Kennair, L., Sandseter E., (2011). Children’s
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Thrilling Experiences, Evolutionary
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10. Anthony D. Pellegrini, A., Mahwah, N., L.
Erlbaum, L., (2005). Recess: its role in education and development, Psychology Press.
11. Jarvis, P., (2006). Rough-and-tumble Play:
Lessons in Life, Evolutionary Psychology
human-nature.com/ep – 2006. 4: 330-346.
12. Fletcher, R., St. George, J., Freeman, E.,
(2013). Rough-and-tumble play quality: theoretical foundations for a new
measure of father–child interaction, Fathers
and Development: New Areas for Exploration Early Child Development and Care,
Volume 183, Issue 6.
13. Biddulph, S., (1998). Raising boys: why boys are different--and how to help them become happy
and well-balanced men, Berkeley, Calif., Celestial Arts
14. Bekoff, M. and Byers, J. A. (eds.) 1998. Animal play: evolutionary, comparative, and
ecological perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
15. Brown, S., (2010). Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates
the Soul, Avery.
16. An Interview with Dr. Stuart Brown, MD,
Amazon.com Review
Retrieved from:
http://www.amazon.com/Play-Shapes-Brain-Imagination-Invigorates/dp/1583333789/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
17. Carlson, F., (10 Nov. 2010). "Rough-and-tumble play 101."
ChildCareExchange.com.
Retrieved from
http://www.ccie.com/library/5018870.pdf
18. Betty Brinn Children's Museum:
https://www.bbcmkids.org/
19. Bekoff, M., Pierce, J., (2009). Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals,
University of Chicago Press.
20. Pellis, S., (2009). The Playful Brain: Venturing to the Limits of Neuroscience,
Oneworld Publications.
