The Power of Play: How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier, Healthier Children
Starred Review.In this fascinating look at the importance of letting kids be kids,  Elkind argues that "Play is being silenced." According to Elkind, a child  psychologist and author ofAll Grown Up and No Place to  Go, important, unstructured play is too often replaced in modern  times by organized activities, academics or passive leisure activities such as  watching television and playing video games. Elkind explains how even toys have  changed: "toys once served to socialize children into social roles, vocations,  and academic tool skills. Today, they are more likely to encourage brand  loyalties, fashion consciousness, and group think." Elkind acknowledges that  technology has its place in the classroom, but debunks computer programs  marketed toward babies and preschoolers whose young brains are not yet able to  fully comprehend two-dimensional representations. "Parent peer pressure" is  often to blame, causing parents to engage in "hyperparenting, overprotection,  and overprogramming." Media-spread fears about everything from kidnapping and  molestation to school shootings and SIDS can cause parents to forget that  "children can play safely without adult organization; they have done so as long  as people have been on earth." With clarity and insight, Elkind calls for  society to bring back long recesses, encourage imagination and let children  develop their minds at a natural pace.(Jan.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.