Play Is Enough

trigger warning- death

Miriam sat in her car and waited for the shock to wear off. She’d always known it was a possibility that the family she worked, for would decide to send their youngest child to that awful academic preschool down the street, but to be told it was a certainty felt like a slap in the face. Why couldn’t parents understand the harm that occurred in those types of school environments? Nothing about formal learning in preschool is necessary for later success. Play is enough.

Miriam thought of sweet little Brody, and tried to picture him at that horrible school. It was gut wrenching to imagine his happy, free spirited self being forced to conform. Instead of climbing trees and skipping rocks, he’d be sitting at a desk, tracing endless worksheets. He would be forced to accept just one right answer, where he was used to finding many possibilities. Brody would be working for gold stars, or rather red stars, because those terrible teachers graded each worksheet with red pen. His learning should come from internal motivation, and not from the promise of a red star. Most baffling of all, Brody would be trading fresh air and sunshine for a classroom that smelled of mildew. She always wondered why all those wealthy families were willing to overlook the obvious mold problem in the building, just so they could say their child attended Silver Years. Why were they all so giddy about sending their children to a place that sounds more like a retirement home than a preschool? Young children are designed to learn through play. Science supports this notion. Play is enough.

Of course, it wasn’t all the parents’ fault. Silver Years preyed on the false parental fears that their child will show up to kindergarten already behind in life. That just isn’t possible. Children are unique, and they develop at different rates. Kindergarten is a beginning. There is no way to be behind at a beginning. Children shouldn’t be assessed in this manner, anyway. Children are supposed to play. Play is enough.

Miriam was disappointed in herself for letting Brody down. She had worked so hard to provide him with the childhood he deserved, while simultaneously trying to educate his parents on why play is so vital to development. She had been one of his primary caregivers from the time he was 2 weeks old, and truth be told, spent the most time with him out of anyone, every week, for the last 4 years. Miriam made it a point to immerse him in nature right from the start. Now, at nearly 5 years old, he could identify all of the common local birds by song and sight. He was thrilled each time he found deer tracks, and was fascinated by the little bones he could extract from owl pellets. Brody loved to go into the woods, and just be. He didn’t need anyone to tell him how to play or what to do. He was a master at entertaining himself, and inventing his own games. He was observant, and empathetic. Brody adored worms, slugs, and beetles. He was strong, physically, and mentally. He didn’t give up easily. Brody knew how to stand up for himself, and also how to be fair with others. He could write all of the letters of the alphabet, and knew what sounds they made. He was even beginning to learn sight words. He developed these skills purely through play, because play is enough.

Miriam had been the family’s nanny when their third child had been a student at Silver Years. She remembered how Chloe had cried and pleaded with her parents not to make her go for the entire first 6 months of the school year. Chloe had to be bribed with treats at the end of each week if she went without fuss, and even then it was a lot of work getting her out the door. Miriam remembered how much Chloe’s physical endurance had suffered while she attended that school. She was pale, with sunken in eyes, and tired easily. She had been 4 years old and should have been a bundle of endless energy, but she was weak from sitting on her butt at a desk day after day, week after week. She should have been outside, moving her body. She should have been playing, because play is enough.

Miriam opened the door and vomited onto the snowy street. She couldn’t bear the thought of that happening to her sweet Brody. Why hadn’t she done more to stop this? Why hadn’t she better articulated that all a child needs to be kindergarten ready is plenty of play? How had she failed so terribly in spreading the message that play is enough? 

Miriam shifted her car into drive. Acting on autopilot, she pressed the gas and the car began to roll down the hill. Miriam was so deep in her own thoughts that she didn’t notice that her headlights were off. Her mind was racing. It was true that parents who chose academic preschools for their young children thought they were giving them a leg up. They were doing what they felt was best. Miriam couldn’t just let it go though, because she knew that all of the research showed that there are no long term benefits to early academic training. Children who go to academic preschools score higher on tests, initially, in kindergarten (who cares! Kids should not be tested in kindergarten!), but by 3rd grade, there’s no difference in scores, and by 6th grade, those who attended academic preschools tended to score lower on tests, and have more behavior issues. Boys, of course, struggled the most, and Miriam was watching this pan out with Brody’s 11 year old twin brothers. The older boys are not motivated to do much of anything. They were already burnt out from years of high pressure formal learning, especially because they started that when they should have been playing. The twins were afraid to try anything new if they thought they might fail. They were strict rule followers, to the extent that it was a detriment. They had zero ability to be flexible in their thinking. If the twins had been allowed to play in their preschool years, they would be better off than they are now. Miriam knew this in the depths of her soul, because play is enough.

She wasn’t sure if she would be able to stay on as the family’s nanny come fall. They had offered to pay her for full time hours, and allow her to have a few paid hours off during the school day, but Miriam didn’t know if she could go through with it. Having received no raises in over 2 years, she was extremely underpaid as it was. She didn’t want to watch Brody turn into a worksheet tracing robot. She didn’t want to be broke, AND miserable. Her heart ached to think of Brody’s absence in her daily life if she were to quit her job, but dropping him off and picking him up from that dreadful school 5 days a week wasn’t something she wanted, either. Play is enough. Miriam shook her head in disgust. When will parents learn that play is enough?

She turned onto Main Street. Lost in her despair, Miriam blew right past a stop sign. A pickup truck going 60mph t-boned her car, killing her on impact. As emergency crews arrived on the scene, the first thing they heard was a clip of the podcast Miriam had been listening to, stuck on a loop. The host repeated one sentence over and over again: “Play is enough!”