Paly ABC - PLAYING THE ROLES

Through pretend play, children learn things like negotiating, considering the perspectives of others, delaying gratification, comparing their own ideas with others and making decisions, developing a plan and acting on it, expressing and listening to thoughts, assigning tasks, and combining various information and ideas into a whole. This allows the child to get into the shoes of someone else and is therefore able to understand why these people or characters behave in certain ways. Through role-playing, the child is able to relate to his emotions and learns how to take control of his behavior.

Development of social and emotional intelligence

Children develop and nurture social and emotional intelligence through play. Nothing can replace creative and imaginative play when it comes to teaching and developing these skills in children.

Role-playing also helps a child learn conflict resolution, for example, when playing with others they may argue about who will be the villain and who will be the superhero, they will have to come up with a potential solution and plan of action together. All these skills are very useful in later life and valued both personally and professionally. As you can see, this simple fun turns out to be intense and serious work!

Role-playing and role-playing games help children develop empathy, as well as self-regulation skills. By portraying various possible or completely unrealistic scenarios, children broaden their perspective, learn to solve problems and conflicts, as well as train verbal skills and translate their thoughts into words. As you can see - this is extremely effective training, so as long as the child likes to play in this way, it is worth giving him the space and time to do so.

Imitating caregivers

This type of play begins quite early, as early as ca. 18 months of age. We can then, for example, observe how the child uses a stick, spoon or other objects to pretend to talk on the phone, type on the computer or imitate other activities performed by caregivers.

The older a child gets, the more complex and complicated his games become. They involve rules and principles that occur every day in the child's life or that the child would like to have in his life.

Healthy development

The benefits of role-playing among children are fundamental to improving the skills necessary for healthy development. It's no wonder that pediatric therapists use role-play therapy to help children get through difficult and challenging situations or to support the development of children who are struggling with various types of disorders. One of the main reasons why role-playing is used in clinics is that it effectively regulates the stress experienced by the child, as well as helping him or her to get used to difficult experiences.

Using imagination in play not only supports children's creativity, but also promotes better performance in school, and helps develop the skills needed to solve problems.

Fantastic characters and difficult situations

Whether children play real characters or superheroes, animals or fantastic creatures, it's worth letting them have this fun. Children are fascinated by superheroes and fantasy characters such as unicorns, dinosaurs, among others, because of their super powers. When they wear capes, princesses' diadem or other special attributes, they thus learn how the world works, what is good and what is bad, and at the same time it encourages them to take on new challenges and train their courage.

Real-life situations, such as going to the store or the doctor's office, allow children to conquer their fear of such events, as well as to practice ways to cope with such moments in a safe environment. Children often use pretend play to work out personal and difficult life events, such as illness in the family, absence of a parent, divorce or moving house.

Getting to know yourself and the world

Role-playing and playing different characters or animals are among the first ways children learn about their likes, dislikes, interests and abilities. By experimenting with different roles and characters, they work to understand what they have experienced and learn about themselves and the world around them. One only has to look at children playing with dolls or teddy bears to see that often these toys become more adventurous versions of the child himself and are a safe way for him to express feelings and new ideas. Observing play and actively participating in it gives the parent insight into the child's world and what the child is currently experiencing and what is important in his life. It allows you to get to know his dreams, hopes and fears.

When playing together, let the child take control and observe what will happen. Often, the child will take on the role of the person who handled the challenge perfectly, or play the person who contributed in some way to the child's well-being (e.g., pushed him or her on the playground or took an injection or blood draw at the clinic). Of course, role-playing can be done purely out of sheer joy and the desire to play, as well as out of fascination with the people in question or the roles they play in life. Children play because it makes them happy. Even if there are more difficult plots in play, this does not immediately mean that something disturbing is going on in the child's life.

Nowadays, children are increasingly attending extra and organized activities. While these are undoubtedly interesting and enrich a child's life, the time for free play is shrinking dramatically. Thus, while caring for the all-round development of the child, it is worth remembering the role of child-initiated and child-led play and ensuring that there is time for it.