From: Will Ford < la> To: undisclosed-recipients:; Bee: "Ma <MINIa> Subject: Jared Dillian's take on the importance of Play - Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 16:02:13 +0000 Play Something fun for the last article before the break. Actually, most of the material for this piece comes from my wife, the anthropologist. So we are in the car going to the Hunger Games movie, and I don't know why it popped into my head, but I asked her: why do the juveniles of nearly all species of mammals engage in play? It's not obvious why. Clearly it serves some evolutionary purpose. As it turns out, it does, according to my wife. Play is important to rehearse activities as a youngster that you will be performing as an adult, with no negative consequences. So a kitten that likes to pounce on a toy is learning how to pounce on prey as a cat, but there is nothing at stake: the kitten will still eat if it doesn't catch anything. Baby chimpanzees will learn how to crack nuts with rocks, but generally they are too busy goofing around and throwing rocks at each other. But there are no consequences to doing so--they will still eat, and in goofing around, they will eventually get around to trying to crack nuts. They won't be able to do it, but they will learn how. So when human children play--like a 5- year-old girl who plays by putting her doll in the toy oven--her mother will respond by telling her that you don't put babies in the oven, and she'll learn, with no consequences. Later in life, she will know not to put her offspring in the oven. That's an extreme example, but still a good example of how children learn through play, without the consequences. Children learn coordination, how to use their muscles, how to interact with others, and, most crucially, they learn boundaries. EFTA00378846