Climbing trees, walking to school alone, and playing with Lego: these are things that we all experienced as children. But will our children get to experience the same things? Every day it seems like we see kids whose faces are lit up by screens rather than skies. Recently, I had the chance to speak with Traci Costa, a passionate advocate for unstructured play and owner of Peekaboo Beans active wear for kids, about how to keep play a priority in our kids’ lives.
Calgary is Awesome: As an owner of a small business, I know you must be busy. How do you manage to plan unstructured play into your children’s lives?
Traci Costa: One thing I do is make play a priority. My kids are still in activities, but from Thursday to Saturday I make sure that no activities are planned. If they do have a day with activities, I make sure to give them an hour of time to play when they get home. The trick is to find a healthy balance between activities and play time. Giving kids time to figure out who they are and letting them make their own rules will help them figure out life as they get older.
C.I.A.: Do you think it’s possible for kids to have unstructured play that’s unsupervised? I saw that you will be hosting a talk about risky play. How can parents balance giving their children independence while still making sure they are safe?
TC: I talked to Dr. Mariana Brussoni, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia about this. She taught me a lot about how risky play can actually be beneficial in a child’s life. The trick is making decisions based on assessing your child’s abilities and the specific situation (like a busy street versus a safe street). Find environments where your kids can have some independence and slowly teach them about different risks and how they can cope with them. Even though when a child climbs a tree it can seem dangerous to us parents, think about the victory children feel after they reach the top. Finding those successes are so important for kids. Deciding what’s right for your kids is a personal choice. Life is hard. You’re going to get bumps and bruises, but you learn how to get through the hard times.
C.I.A.: Tell us about your Play Revolution (Pop Up Playdates, Play it Forward Campaign, Seasonal Play Challenges, etc.). What sort of things can parents expect at these events? I notice that most of them are in B.C. Are you planning on holding any in Alberta in the future?
Playing in a field. Photo by Peekaboo Beans.
T.C.: I actually held a Pop Up Playdate in Elboya park this morning. I like to combine community events with the meetups for my company’s sales representatives in Calgary into two fun filled days.
The Pop Up Playdates are usually outside in a park. They give people a reason to get together. There’s no structure whatsoever. The kids make friends immediately and the parents get a chance to meet people in their community. It’s also a great stress relief for kids. We bring coffee and we don’t promote or sell anything. It’s really about letting children enjoy their lives as much as they can.
The Play Revolution is our campaign through social media, our YouTube channel (where one of our videos has over 10,000 views), podcasts, and webinars spreading information about the importance of unstructured play.
C.I.A.: So many kids now seem to prefer watching T.V. or playing video games to going outside. How do you get kids so they actually want to go outside?
T.C.: If kids are used to that, that’s what they’re going to gravitate towards. It isn’t about cutting out T.V. or video games completely, but about setting boundaries. One idea I heard is to have a Friday family fun night where you spend time together as a family picking out a movie, getting snacks, and watching it together. Also, some parents use a checklist. In the checklist there will be things like “Spent 15 minutes playing” or “Made my bed”. If you give your kid some time to play and they don’t know what to do, sit with them for a while. Play with them for a bit, then leave for five minutes or so. Come back and see how they are doing and affirm the behavior. Doing this repeatedly will help them get used to it.
C.I.A.: How do your clothes help kids play? How are they different from other clothes that are available to children?
Kids at a play date. Photo by Peekaboo Beans.
T.C.: When I first became a mom after ten years of infertility, I wanted to give my children the best. But I noticed that a lot of options for clothes were too tight, short, or uncomfortable. I wanted to make a product for my daughter and for other people while still giving them good value, rather than making cheap clothing.
C.I.A.: We all experience cold winters. Other than playing active video games or going to an indoor jungle gym (things we mentioned in a previous Calgary is Awesome post), what are some other fun activities that kids can do while still keeping warm?
T.C.: Kids are easy. You can give them five rocks in a room and they can find a way to play with it. Parents can over complicate things. Ask your kids what they want to do. Some kids like to make a fort out of a cardboard box. Making indoor forts are great. You could even do indoor camping.
C.I.A.: Your company is involved with a charity called Playground Builders. Tell us how you support them.
T.C.: Our community of play stylists donate a percentage of their income to Playground Builders and our corporate office matches it. We’ve built 300 playgrounds and given access to 500,000 kids. We’ve built playgrounds in Afghanistan. We believe every child deserves an opportunity to play.
C.I.A.: From my memories as a kid, I think some of the best parts of unstructured play are the weird and wacky misadventures that I got into. What are some interesting stories about things your children have done while playing?
T.C.: My daughter has one game she likes to play before bed. She pretends her bedroom is a house and the hallway outside is the street. She has me go into the “house” and then she sits outside and pretends that she’s a homeless girl. I come out into the hallway and I pretend that I’m taking her in from the street to take care of her and keep her safe. The role play lets my daughter explore her fears of being left alone in a safe way and makes her feel warm and taken care of afterwards.
You can find out more about Traci Costa and her Play Revolution on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.