Podcast 490: The mental health benefits of unstructured play for young children

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SHOW DESCRIPTION: In this podcast I talk about how less free, unstructured playtime affects children’s mental health, and what we can do to improve our children’s mental resilience through encouraging free play. This is part of my summer series on brain-building activities you can do with your children to help them build up their mental resilience and manage their mental health while having fun.

Read the blog here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://drleaf.com/blogs/news/the-mental-health-benefits-of-unstructured-play-for-young-children

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EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: 

1:50 What free play is & why it is important  

6:00 How keeping our children busy affects their wellbeing & growth 

11:00 Ways to encourage free play

14:20 What happens when you schedule every moment of your child’s day

17:25 The importance of encouraging balance in your child’s life

22:32 Why we need to change the way we understand setting our child up for success

26:10, 31:44 How to incorporate more free play in your child’s day

39:20 Why we shouldn’t just focus on our child’s academic achievement 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

-Get my new book Cleaning up Your Mental Mess here: https://www.cleaningupyourmentalmess.com

-Get a free Cleaning up Your Mental Mess workbook when you subscribe to my weekly email at drleaf.com!

- Visit my website at https://drleaf.com for more free resources

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*DISCLAIMER: This podcast and blog are for educational purposes only and are not intended as medical advice. We always encourage each person to make the decision that seems best for their situation with the guidance of a medical professional.