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Functions of Play in the Human Lifespan

Play is often considered a prerogative of children and only an occasional indulgence for adults. Its role in children's lives is generally recognized as an important part of 'being a child,' but it is not always clearly understood that play is an essential developmental mechanism. For children, play is the equivalent of an adult's job; it is, quite simply, what an individual does at that stage of her/his development. But theories of development have increasingly come to recognize that human beings do not stop growing and changing physically, intellectually, and emotionally simply because they have reached some plateau in life. It is now understood that development continues throughout the lifespan and that play, as an important developmental tool, continues to be a vital human function to life's end. A review of the developmental role of play and examples of its functions at several points in the human lifespan--childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age--will demonstrate its importance to every life at every stage of existence.

The best general definition of play may be that given by the great historian Johan Huizinga who said, "play is a voluntary activity which takes place within certain fixed limits of time and space [and] has nothing to do with necessity, utility or duty" (cited in Balke, 1997, p. 355). But play also has many characteristics and takes many more forms. It is generally egocentric, often idiosyncratic, and performed under conditions of relative privacy that protects and frees the player from the judgment of others. These various conditions under which play takes place conspire to create a great degree of freedom which can become even greater when the player engages in the "suspension of reality during which [s/he] is freed from the rules, roles, and expectations of reality" (Finney, Tolan & Walker, 1996, p. 18).

Play is also universal. From the beginning of recorded history writers have recognize...

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Functions of Play in the Human Lifespan. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 15:04, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1693293.html