Playtime

Now that school is about to begin, it's time to tell our kids to pay no attention and go outside and play.
Not what you expected from an academic, but there it is.

These days kids in Western culture are pushed so hard to achieve that they have little down time to do "nothing," which is usually our definition of play. More upsetting, some psychologists link this trend to the rise in emotional and behavioral problems in children.

How is do kids fare in other cultures? Kids in non-Western cultures might now go to school and sit at desks, but no so long ago they were less confined. Did they just play the rest of the time?

Not really. Around the world, children (including those who go to school) contribute to the household economy by taking care of little kids, weeding, harvesting, tending livestock, gathering water and firewood, and doing domestic chores.)

Kids gather water with rollers.

It's not exactly play as we in the West define it, but at least they are with other kids and usually outside.

Mostly they are not stuck at desks expected to listen as adults yack on and on and on.