16:12 Gulf News: Physical active play allows children to test and develop motor skills.
16:13 Sudha Kathuria: I completely agree as physical development is one of the prime areas of development for a child. It is important that the child is exposed to physical exercise at an early stage so that he or she improves their fine motor skills and muscular coordination as it is essential to children’s growth.
16:13 Anjum Hasan: I very much agree with the statement that maximum time in the UAE and other GCC countries is spent on passive play. This can be due to various factors, but most importantly due to the lack of outdoor facilities and climate.
16:13 Aasha Eapen: I agree as physical activities require more eye and hand coordination. However, passive play such as video games also require a certain level of hand and eye coordination, however, it is grossly inadequate to the needs of a growing child. Physical activity on the other hand, depending on its intensity, requires varying degrees of hand and eye coordination for which the individual needs to be flexible and in turn, improves agility.
16:14 Nanditha Vinod: Physical play will always be of more importance than that of passive play because the benefits offered by physical play are far more coveted than those offered by passive play or video games. In addition to providing better increasing motor skills, attention span, concentration and memory, it also provides good health, mental and physical well-being as well as a longer lifespan. It has also been proved that children who participate in outdoor sports are far more socially interactive with better communication skills. The playground is also the best classroom for developing values like sportsman spirit, teamwork, leadership and confidence, which is not possible in the case of passive play. Talking about lack of space, sports such as badminton require only a small court while yoga and aerobics if made interesting, can also be considered as sports and requires only a small space. Moreover, while most schools in the UAE do encourage sports and games as an afterschool activity and many prestigious colleges and universities alike, by handing out various scholarships for budding sportsmen. Lastly addiction to video games is found in much higher percentage amongst students than the addiction to outdoor sports and in any case, the former is much more detrimental to the overall development of a child. Moreover, health and character are the greatest gifts to humankind and passive play is a major risk to both of these.
16:16 Annu Pramod: If you recall, playing in the mud with bare feet and sweating it out was a great health reviver. However, children in this generation do not know the glory of those days!
16:16 Anjum Hasan: The intellectual and cognitive benefits of playing have been well-documented. Children who engage in quality play experiences are more likely to have well-developed memory skills, language development, and are able to regulate their behaviour, leading to enhanced school adjustment and academic learning.
16:17 Gulf News: Children who engage in active play are more likely to do well in school because it improves their concentration, attention span and memory.
16:18 Sudha Kathuria: I agree as active play brings all the senses of the child and makes him or her alert in every field, which proves how much of an integral part it is in terms of children’s development. By playing games, children become aware of following rules, which in turn teaches them to be more focused, attentive and responsible.
16:19 Nanditha Vinod: I agree and not only does it improve the points mentioned, but the overall health of the child in terms of increasing blood circulation and oxygen supply to the brain.
16:20 Anjum Hasan: In play, children usually have increased feelings of success and optimism as they act as their own agents and make their own choices. So while being known as a stress release, it is also linked to the well being of a child.
16:20 Annu Pramod: I agree because physical play requires a lot of concentration, whether it is their focus on the game and perfecting it, their energy and making sure they increase their stamina by regularly working out or making sure they do it on a rigorous and daily basis. These qualities get transferred to the classrooms because they have already been attuned to the art of concentration. They are already groomed for success!
16:20 Anjum Hasan: The dispositions for learning, such as curiosity, openness, optimism, resilience, concentration, and creativity are all developed in play. One of the greatest benefits of playing is to assist with the development of social competence. With that in mind, children can build relationships, learn to resolve conflicts, negotiate and regulate their behaviour.
16:22 Aasha Eapen: The famous saying “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” holds true in this case. Some schools require students to come for morning exercise in which they are exposed to supplies of oxygen and although they might be physically exhausted at the end of the day, they are, however, mentally alert. Sports, also provide a wonderfully constructive break form studies, this is why a lot of students who choose to continue to pursue sports even in higher grades, are still able to achieve a high standard of both academic and athletic excellence.
16:25 Anjum Hasan: We need to bare in mind that no gadgets can ever replace the bonding experience that a child would get when he or she enjoys an outdoor play.
16:25 Gulf News: Passive play helps to promote listening ability, learning of sounds and also speaking ability.
16:26 Aasha Eapen: I disagree because active play does a much better job of promoting listening ability, learning of sounds and also speaking ability. For example, in a sport, if a person is required to listen to the coach’s instructions and co-ordinate with his or her teammates. This enables the development of the skill of listening, sharpening focus, improvement in communication methods and also makes them better prepared to handle bigger amounts of pressure.
16:27 Nanditha Vinod: I am of the firm opinion that passive play actually discourages speaking skills due to children remaining cooped up with their gadgets rather than interacting with others.
16:27 Annu Pramod: Speaking ability? They hardly speak when glued to their games! I hear just monosyllables! As for listening ability and learning of sounds, I should think that nature has provided enough for them to learn.
16:27 Nanditha Vinod: Besides, many researches have shown that children opting for passive play are bad communicators, introverts and rather shy.
16:28 Sudha Kathuria: Passive play may be good to develop concentration but what is actually required is a focused approach in all areas to make a child not only concentrate, but also an all rounder.
16:29 Annu Pramod: If you talk of the apps, there are always advantages and disadvantages for everything. Learning a language through an app is possibly an advantage.
16:29 Nanditha Vinod: There is no denying that gadgets do offer the option of self learning other languages, but at what cost? The cost of your health. Therefore they have to be used in moderation.
16:30 Sudha Kathuria: The best way to learn a language is by interacting with people and not with a machine. It will turn our coming generations into robots, rather than human beings.
16:30 Aasha Eapen: Physical activities like sports also encourage a lot of lasting friendships to be built, something that has little chance of happening virtually. In this age, human to human interaction is being compromised in favour of gadget to gadget interaction.
16:32 Gulf News: Passive play encourages cognitive learning and development of analytical skills.
16:34 Aasha Eapen: To illustrate with an example, a child who seems to be whiling away his time playing video games may actually be using his analytical skills to calculate how many points he or she needs to get to the next level.
16:34 Sudha Kathuria: I disagree as passive play can never achieve what an outdoor game caan. Physical development and outdoor play is as important as is food for growth.
16:34 Annu Pramod: I agree to a certain extent as it depends on what they are playing. If the parents are monitoring the games that their children play, we can make sure that the children play games that encourage cognitive learning, improve mathematical and language skills.
16:35 Nanditha Vinod: I do agree that some passive games encourage mathematical and analytical skills. However, measuring the time of an approaching ball, the distance from which it is coming and how wide it is to make contact with the bat is a good example of how analysis is essential even in an active sport.
16:38 Aasha Eapen: On a primary level, it does, so far as counting the points is concerned but certain educational apps encourage students to further develop analytical skills.
16:38 Annu Pramod: Yes, there are several good games that can help children improve several skills, however, these are mostly excluding them from developing their muscles!
16:39 Anjum Hasan: Mathematical skills or reasoning will only be increased with physical play as you cannot just sit and reason.
16:40 Aasha Eapen: To sum up, to progress in this day and age, if we want to move forward, we have to keep our values while embracing change. Moderation and caution, though difficulty to exercise is the key.
-Compiled by Donia Jenabzadeh/Community Web Editor
