Swing Sets Encourage Children's Free Play and Assist in Healthy Development

Life in today's world is competitive and fast paced, and the pressures placed on kids to succeed can feel overpowering. More and more frequently, it isn't uncommon for parents to overschedule their children with extracurricular activities that they feel can enrich the children's knowledge and experience. Sadly, what often becomes overlooked in this scenario is the child's need for free play. When there is no room in the day for free play, children suffer. According to a clinical report by the American Academy of Pediatrics, "play is essential to development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth." Play is so vital for child development that the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights acknowledges play as a right that every child deserves.

What is free play? In brief, it is the kind of play that is child-centered. Children initiate it and guide its progression. Free play doesn't involve screens or electronics, isn't scheduled, and isn't organized or presided over by adults. Free play is play that just happens. It can be an individual kind of play devised by one child, or it can be a cooperative effort where many children are involved. While adults may be invited to participate in free play with children, the children themselves must be the ones who lead the way. Free play can come in any shape or form, but parents who wish to help encourage free play can provide children with tools to assist.

In the view of many parents, backyard swing sets are one of the most motivating tools children can use for free play. With a swing set, children can initiate and engage in play, whether alone or with friends, and still be unobtrusively watched from indoors by mom or dad. Swing sets come in an endless variety of configurations, so finding one that offers the desired features is easy. Wood swing sets are most commonly chosen backyard use, but metal swing sets are available as well. The most basic swing sets are equipped with a couple of swings and rings or a trapeze bar, but parents can also choose extra features. A club house, slide, and monkey bars are common additions that parents want for their children's backyard swing set. Other accessories can be added, of course, to meet the individual needs of the family. Some of the options that are available on many swing sets include a sandbox, different types of swings, or a climbing apparatus. Pretend play can be encouraged with the addition of accessories like a steering wheel, binoculars, or vinyl playhouse enclosure for the swing set's existing club house.

Children have tremendous creative power and can use free play time to strengthen their imaginative abilities. Swing sets are just one tool for free play that parents can provide to children, but they are a particularly beneficial tool. Swing sets, in addition to encouraging imaginative free play, also encourage active play. On a swing set, children are required to move their bodies as well as their minds, and this combination contributes to developing the whole child.

All things considered, though, time is the most important tool that parents can provide their children to encourage free play. Allowing children more time to engage in their own imaginative play will benefit their development much more significantly than a day filled with pre-scheduled, adult-organized activities ever could.

Trey Collier is owner of BackyardCity.com - Where North America shops for Outdoor Living essentials, including high quality Swing Sets and Accessories for many years of backyard fun.