FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- August 2, 2009

CONTACT: Isabelle Cherney; cherneyi@creighton.edu; 402.280.1228

It is the time of summer when plenty of parents of small children are all "played out" and ready for the kids to be back in school. But for the kids, playing -- and how they play -- is extremely important for growing up healthy and smart. In "'Child's Play': It's Serious Business" (appended below), a fact sheet prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families, Creighton University psychologist Isabel Cherney explains findings from her laboratory observations of children's play.

First, how children play matters. How much -- or how little -- structured activity our children have is a kind of cultural football, where we judge parents for organizing too much -- or too little. Dr. Cherney finds that for very small children, unstructured play with other children is especially helpful. Unstructured play does not mean t.v. or video games; it means going outside to play with other kids in spontaneous, child-directed play rather than adult-organized games or activities.

(However, University of Maryland's Sandra Hofferth shows that as children get older, more organized activities actually contribute to kids' well being. And University of California's Barrie Thorne has studied the complex rituals through which girls and boys play together and separately on school playgrounds. Their contact info appears at the bottom of the fact sheet.)

Second, adults can and should urge children to go beyond dolls for girls and trucks for boys. Children who are given both "girl" and "boy" toys and encouraged to play with them become more creative and complex thinkers.

Parents can help by providing toys that elicit the most complex and sustained play. They can allow time for unstructured play, and encourage kids to feel free to play with a wide range of toys, including some that many people think of as "for the opposite sex." For more details, please read Dr. Cherney's fact sheet, "'Child's Play': It's Serious Business."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Isabelle Cherney is Michael W. Barry Professor and Director of the Honors Program and Professor of Psychology at Creighton University. Contact Dr. Cherney at 402.280.1228 or cherneyi@creighton.edu.

ABOUT CCF: The Council on Contemporary Families is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to providing the press and public with the latest research and best-practice findings about American families. Our members include demographers, economists, family therapists, historians, political scientists, psychologists, social workers, sociologists, as well as other family social scientists and practitioners. Founded in 1996 and based at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Council's mission is to enhance the national understanding of how and why contemporary families are changing, what needs and challenges they face, and how these needs can best be met.

To learn more about other briefing papers and about our annual April conferences, including complimentary press passes for journalists, contact Stephanie Coontz, CCF's Director of Research and Public Education, at coontzs@msn.com.