PLAYING ROUGH

http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/rough_and_tumble_play.html/context/237

Rough-and-tumble play
By Raising Children Network

Most children love to play fight. Play fighting is most common among boys (both because of their hormones and because grown-ups tend to play more roughly with boys) and during primary school years. Boys tend to like wrestling and holding each other down, while girls who enjoy rough play prefer chasing each other around.

While rough play might have developed among children as a way of learning the fighting skills they’d need to survive, these days it is more important for helping children learn who among their friends is stronger and weaker. Knowing who they can beat and who’ll beat them, and having a hierarchy of stronger and weaker children in their play group, helps children avoid actual fights.

You might worry that your child is being aggressive, but you can usually tell this rough-and-tumble play from genuine fighting. In rough-and-tumble, children will be smiling and laughing, and once they’re finished they’ll keep playing together. Children who are really fighting each other will separate once the fight is over. However, rough-and-tumble play can easily lead to real fighting, so try to establish some rules about what is and isn't acceptable during play.

Primary school children are the biggest rough-and-tumblers, but babies and even toddlers enjoy exciting movement as well, as long as they feel safe. Toddlers and babies like to be bounced on your knee or lifted into the air, although it is best to be gentle with young children to avoid any accidental injury.

They also enjoy climbing over one another and rolling around – it helps them understand the limits of their strength, explore their changing position in space and find out what other children will and won’t let them do. Toddlers love playing chasey or tiggy, spinning around and dancing. This kind of active play works best when your child is wide awake and not expected to go to bed or sit quietly any time soon.