70. Independent Play and Mental Health – Journal Club

“We rode our bikes around the neighborhood and the only rule was that we had to be home for dinner before the street lights came on. And we turned out fine.”

Is it the loss of independent play time that is causing the terrible rise in mental health challenges in adolescents and young adults? The authors of this week’s journal club article make the case that it is a major contributor.

Especially in the aftermath of the pandemic and the response to it, there has been much discussion about the rise in mental health challenges facing young adults and adolescents. Pediatric care providers (and parents) are constantly on the lookout for what can be done to prevent these challenges and support those kids who are facing them.

This week, we are diving deep into another article from a pediatric research journal. The article is titled “Decline in Independent Activity as a Cause of Decline in Children’s Mental Wellbeing: Summary of the Evidence” from the Journal of Pediatrics.

From this article, I take away three key concepts that we should be working to impart to our children to help them grow: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

The article makes the case that these were previously imparted to children through independent play time and that we should aim to return to this ideal.

I don’t find this a practical solution and offer how I think modern parents can teach these same ideals within a modern parenting context.

I hope you enjoy the episode.

#docs2dads #fatherhood #parentinggoals #workingdads #playtime #mentalhealth #depression