In some parts of the country, the school year has already begun. Of course, the start of school is always exciting. We’ve been talking to elementary and middle school teachers over our summer vacation, and there are some significant concerns that they are confronting in their effort to be effective educators.
I wrote about some of that here. And I’ve shared some of my skepticism about the nascent MESH movement here. The latter seems not to have gained much traction, and despite being well-intentioned, the simple fact is that all healthy play can be very good at developing Mental Emotional and Social Health. Child-directed play doesn’t need a structure, nor does it need to be validated. And the last thing parents need is another buzzword or being told they’re not doing enough to support their children’s healthy development.
There is one topic, however, that has come up again and again as I’ve talked to teachers, from elementary school through high school: phones.
School systems are already banning phones during the day, and some are going so far as to implement Yondr pouches as requirements during the school day. These pouches seal phones away and can only be opened by an administrator, though kids can keep the pouched phone in a locker. Report after report indicates that when kids do not have access to their phones during the school day, there is less anxiety, more interaction, and better learning. After an initial adjustment period, the results have been very positive.
The problem, it seems, is not with the kids…but the parents. Head of School Sarah Baker at the Tower Hill School in Wilmington, DE (full disclosure: my alma mater) said the complaints she’s hearing are from parents who are concerned about being in touch. “What if there’s an emergency?” they ask.
“You call the office, just like parents did for decades,” is Baker’s response.
The social benefits are great as well. Students have to engage directly with one another, and they have to be present to what’s happening in the moment. Checking the phone constantly is bad for anyone, but especially for young people who are highly attuned to social pressures. For them social media can be like the Burn Book from Mean Girls, except in real time and 24/7. No, of course, it’s not all bad, but teachers have told us that parents are texting their kids all day long—and expecting a response.
To which we say: Mom and Dad, give it a rest. Let your kids alone. Let them solve their own problems. Let them develop as human beings.
We recently also talked to the head of HR at a large corporation (not in the toy biz), and we discovered something else interesting. They are having to implement programs to help new, young hires learn to communicate professionally in-person and in writing. You might think that this was natural, but apparently, it’s not. Many young people who have spent their years texting and being validated for almost anything are having a very difficult time expressing themselves in a work setting—and being able to accept criticism. All of which cuts down on productivity and creates bad working environments.
So, what does this mean for the toy industry? Well, if you’re a manager, you may be confronting some of these issues within your organization. Yes, we have to be sensitive, but we also have jobs to do.
More importantly, as an industry you can all join me on my new soapbox: Play is healthcare. We need to be promoting play as aggressively as people are pushing the drug Jardiance. (However, we can lose the terrible, earworm jingles.)
Kids who play organically, who are exposed to social situations, who try and fail, who have to negotiate conflict with their peers without adult participation are on the way to practicing the skills they need to be fully integrated, functioning adults.
As Maria Montessori said, “play is the work of a child,” and the objective of that work is to enter the grownup world with capability and confidence. Play is one of the most essential building blocks of that outcome, and we’re in a unique position to champion that both for business today and the people of the future.
