Question

Think about play in young children. Does reading a book for pleasure count as play? Does watching a movie or T.V show or playing a video game count as play? If they are considered play, how might these activities fit into Spinka's hypothesis about play?

Answer 1

For the healthy development of the child, a peaceful home environment is required and is necessary also. This means that to protect a child from maltreatment two fold efforts are required- keeping children ‘safe’ and ‘protected’ in their homes and also to encourage children to achieve their full potential.

In my opinion playing a videogame, watching a movie or reading a book, all account for play behavior among children. We may also say that these behaviors may also be called as recreational for children. Such behaviors also help them to acquire a number of abilities which allow them to perform better in their day-to-day lives.

Spinka hypothesized that play allows the mammals to become more adept in handling stress and emotionality and also to exercise control over situations. Spinka largely focused that play enables animals to develop flexible kinematic and emotional responses to unexpected events in which they experience a sudden loss of control. This implies that Spinka is focusing more on kinesthetic or physical play, because Spinka is referring to a sudden loss of control. Going by this hypothesis, sans the physical movement everything else may be considered a part of what play entails. While watching a movie or reading a novel, the emotions are evoked in the reader, which needs a lot of cognitive resources.

Therefore, I would like to conclude that in my opinion, all the given events may be considered as play for children.