Have we completely taken away free play? Dr. Peter Gray has spent much of his adult life analyzing the importance of play for our children. For him, play isn't organized sports or activities. Play is free play. It's unsupervised time alone or with other children. And it often takes place outside or in nature. With all of our access to horror stories—through the news and social media—involving incidents with children, it makes sense that parents are afraid. But this type of play and non-guided interaction is an important part of child development. Not just in learning how to play and be imaginative, but also in solving problems and learning from one another without parental intervention. Maybe we don't need to revert all the way back to the days when the evening commercials had to ask parents if they knew where their kids were; but it may be time to give them back some freedom, and let them do what kids do best. How tightly are you holding your kids? Do you think it's time for a change? Speaker: Peter Gray Source: We Took Play Out of Schools and Now Kids Are Miserable - Peter Gray | Dad Saves America