Thank You 2010 Olympics

When I dropped my daughter at preschool the other morning, this book was waiting for me.

It is the HOP: Healthy Opportunities for Preschoolers booklet, brought to you by your friendly neighbourhood Olympic Committee.

This is apparently a legacy. An OLYMPIC legacy.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Seriously, if we as human beings, let alone parents, need booklets to 'teach' kids how to play, there is a HUGE problem with humanity.

The book is very cute.  There are nice pictures showing diverse happy people playing with their kids.

A very noble concept indeed.  We all need to play with our kids and just basically let our kids play.

Things I really really hoped would be basic common sense and just, you know, part of being a parent!

The book is split into 3 sections; Physical Activity, Literacy and Healthy Eating.  The key emphasis is that there should be LEARNING in each area.

Only six of the games appear to encourage 'pretend play.' By 'pretend' I am assuming they mean letting the kids use their imaginations and is the closest to 'free play' as they get.

I am a HUGE advocate of free play.  Meaning, I have as little to do with it as possible.  I will help set up forts, or cages.   I will make sure no one is killing the other...but after that, GO HAVE FUN!

In our rushed and scheduled modern lives, the chance for kids to just play seems to be in danger. The opportunity to just 'be' seems to be a very limited in our society.

Hence now booklets to make us feel guilty and help us with step by step 'how too's' on playing with our own children.

Why do we keep emphasizing 'learning' at younger and younger ages.  How much more are we going to pressure ourselves and our children to hit these new milestones that the educators are constantly creating.

Child development seems to be a constant reinvention of the wheel.

And I haven't seen much that is making things REALLY REALLY better.

The educators seem to be a bit lost.

The parents are deluged with new concepts in parenting in the forms of books, tv shows, seminars, etc., etc.

We spend a great deal of our parenting time worrying about what we are doing wrong.

Reliance on booklets seems to take precedence over instinct and just what comes naturally.

I am not saying these sorts of things are not useful, and I am sure there are families out there who are grateful for the help.

I just don't think these things address the bigger issues or look at the 'WHY's' behind the necessity

of such a legacy.

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Original Canada Moms Blog post, Kerry also writes at Crunchy Carpets.