Real Lessons Behind A Favorite Summer Movie: Preserving Childhood

This summer, children and adults alike have been running to the theatres to enjoy, Toy Story 5. With the return of Bonnie, Jessie, Woody, Buzz and friends, the push-and-pull between the attraction to gaming through Lilypad, AI powered- iPad technology, and to playing with good ole’ fashioned toys, comes to the forefront as Bonnie’s friendships are threatened. As the story unfolds, one begins to clearly understand the research-based detriments that the excessive use of screen-time can have on our youth today with regards to friendships, creativity, discovery-based learning and imagination. While this movie doesn’t lead us to understand how excessive screen time affects a child’s developing brain and body, I want to assure you that it does. With all of the research and data available to us today through cognitive neuro-science, I invite you to join together to preserve childhood and maximize the development of our children’s bodies and minds.

(Submitted by Dr. Arvi Balseiro)

Do you ever reflect upon your childhood and the differences between today’s youth experiences and your own?  Maybe you were able to ride your bicycle daily to and from school unattended by an adult or play with neighborhood friends all day in the summer, only coming home as the sun began to set. Or, maybe you spent hours on playgrounds that had monkey bars, swings, see-saws and merry-go-rounds that today are sometimes deemed unsafe. Over time, many of these playground activities have been replaced due to safety concerns or because of the attraction to technology-based gaming. These types of outdoor, playful activities in which children swing or spin and their bodies, extend, push and pull in specific ways, are critically important in developing a child’s body sensory systems, the very foundation of all academic learning.

The sensory system consists of two systems, the vestibular and proprioceptive systems. The proprioceptive system is made up of the internal senses that reside in your child’s joints, ligaments, muscles and connective tissues. They affect motor control and are a result of muscles contracting against resistance.  These internal senses communicate with the brain to give your child an understanding of where their bodies are in relation to their environments and the effort needed to complete tasks involving gross and fine motor skills and/or to self-regulate their emotions (Akerley et al., 2019). Children with maladaptive proprioception may exhibit poor organizational skills, inattentiveness, and irregular emotional and behavior responses to normal stimuli. Proprioceptive movements include doing push-ups, hopping, climbing, clapping, sliding, tugging, lifting, and pushing.

The vestibular system takes in and integrates multisensory information and makes sense of where one’s body is oriented in space and where objects are in relationship to one another.  The vestibular system influences ocular-motor function, auditory language processing and an individual’s mood and reaction to stimuli. Movements that stimulate the vestibular system include dancing, swinging, rolling, tumbling, hanging upside down, ribbon dancing, controlling the direction of a swing, and moving in a specific way or rhythm (Harricharan et al. 2017).

During your childhood, you may have played numerous board games or loved spending time playing other types of old-fashioned games such as hop-scotch, pick-up sticks or jacks. These types of games not only were fun but also were purposeful in developing resiliency, your ability to attend to a given task over time, and fine and gross motor skills, each necessary for success in school.

Many children play games on technology devices as they are portable, maintain attention due to their deliberate design, and result in instant gratification, thus making them more appealing.  Remember, however, that tech-based games often mirror our fast-paced world.  I invite you to pause and remember the lesson learned in Toy Story 5  of ‘balancing’ high-tech and high-touch and to ensure that you are equally deliberate in developing your child’s unique and necessary elements of childhood: the development of internal body systems, curiosity, imagination, un-structured play, and storytelling. Whether it’s summer or another time of the year, remember the importance of bringing balance between technology and experiences that promote the qualities of childhood.

Additionally, award your child the time to play freely in an unstructured way with friends or relatives either at home or on a playground. With unstructured play, there are no adult-imposed rules; rather, children craft their own rules, and they hold themselves and each other accountable for their implementation. As children learn and adapt to those rules, their brains’ executive functions strengthen. These activities develop in your child the life-long skills and dispositions of imagination, independence, negotiation, organization, and conflict resolution.