Playing games is of immense importance in a child's development. Scientifically speaking, play does not only provide physical benefits but also offers many emotional, cognitive, and social advantages. Changes in current society cause great anxiety 😳 regarding our children’s leisure time. The time they used to spend playing outside is decreasing, which results in children becoming more solitary and disconnected from the natural world. In previous articles, we listed a vast array of games that were played in times past. Now, we are drawing a partial conclusion on these games while analyzing all the advantages and disadvantages of the children's games of yesteryear compared to the pastimes or distractions of children today. We will analyze the importance these different types of games have on children, while considering the following two very important points:
I — A scientific approach to the benefits of children’s games of the past, and
II — A comparison with modern electronic games.
[Image: Children playing, they are happy]
I – A scientific approach to the benefits of children’s games of the past
Many activities humans engage in bring either good or bad things into their lives. One way to verify this is by studying the results these things produce on a scientific level. Let’s look at two things we can call the benefits that the children’s games of the past brought—and continue to bring—to people’s lives: social interaction (togetherness) and physical and intellectual development. Let’s speak briefly on each of these points.
Games that encourage togetherness, collective interaction, and team spirit
The majority of games played in the past required collective interaction. This means a child often needed another child to apply and enjoy the benefits of these games. This included any category of game, such as: games played on the ground with hands, entertainment involving a toy in hand, distractions involving a lot of movement, pastimes among good friends, leisure involving hand-to-hand contact, games made of words, etc.
The development of these types of social games was the result of the communal social life that existed. They allowed children to maintain this harmony and grow in communal living as well. This wasn’t because children never got angry with each other. On the contrary, they frequently found occasions to be upset. But here again, depending on their age group, they used a symbol to say they were mad at one another. For example, when they crossed their pinky fingers (the smallest finger) with each other, it meant: “I am mad at you.” 😒 But when it was time to be friends again, they crossed their index fingers (the finger after the thumb) with each other, meaning: “I am good with you!” 😁
This also doesn’t mean there weren’t games we could consider personal, individual, or solitary entertainment. If we take a series of games such as: rolling a hoop (woule sèk), playing with a spinning top (ralba), and making toy cars—these are leisure activities children can do alone. But the social development of living together was so strong that it was easier to find several children running behind the child rolling the hoop so that when they lost their turn, it became the next person’s turn, or each child had their own hoop and they would race. It was the same for the other types of games we mentioned, like the spinning top. It was difficult to find a child playing with a top without having others waiting either to take a turn or to compete with their own tops. This wasn’t unique to those games.
We find this relationship in other activities as well. Sometimes things would get a bit spoiled for the older ones; since it was the era when boys would court girls, they loved to send beautiful love letters. When a young man made many mistakes in a letter he sent to a young lady—especially if she didn’t like the fellow—my goodness! 🥺… all the youths skipping rope, playing in circles, or playing hopscotch already knew exactly how many red pen marks were in that letter. Because of this, many boys preferred to have someone smarter write a love letter for them. (We will return to this when we talk about culture). Now, let’s look at the other types of benefits we can draw from games.
Physical and intellectual development
One of the things that guarantees a child’s growth is movement. Therefore, you cannot speak of a child’s physical development without considering the physical activity they perform. Thus, when a child is in an environment where their leisure activities involve a lot of movement—just like in those times—it guarantees that child’s development. Children of the past enjoyed this greatly through the various types of games they played. Furthermore, it wasn’t something that happened occasionally; it was rather their way of life. This made it so that, psychologically, their body’s development aligned perfectly with these games. Let’s look at the advantages some games provided.
For example, a child playing tag (lago) who reaches the “safe zone” (deli), playing ball, or racing, is developing an athletic body 💪, which helps them health-wise and emotionally. A child playing circle games like Lèzonyon vire fas e do, Louloup louloup, skipping rope, and a multitude of others is developing good reflexes and physical balance. In general, learning, understanding, and the development of intelligence come more easily through practice. Many of the activities of the children of old show how intellectually profitable they were for them. The results appear very clearly, even though it wasn’t a time as developed as now. Many of them required creativity—that is, a creative mind. Let’s take some examples.
Attention number one (1): This is entertainment that requires great physical capacity and common sense.
Building a cart (kabwèt) and driving it: There is no doubt that a child who built a cart was on the road to becoming a mechanic. And letting a cart loose at the top of a hill to race down was beneficial for the child driving to develop the attitude of a motorcycle driver or even the skills of a car driver.
Making small tin cars with matchboxes or Juna cans; manufacturing radios and fans from a small motor an adult no longer needed; creating lanterns (fanal)… these things facilitated the evolution of creative capacity. If we were to analyze further, we could find even more advantages or benefits in these games.
This leisure atmosphere was favorable for making children into a “team of geniuses!” 👍👌 Today, the whole world would tip its hat to them if they had found the necessary support. Most games did not expose the minds of these children to things beyond their age that would lead to dishonest behavior. It was mostly entertainment that placed them in an environment that scientifically guaranteed their physical and intellectual development and favored collective relationships. Now, let’s talk about pastimes in the modern era.
II – Comparison with modern electronic games
It wouldn’t make any sense for someone to think that all forms of children’s games from the past would remain the same roughly 40 years later. Since humans evolve, it is normal for the things that serve as distractions to undergo a change as well. And there is nothing wrong with that if these evolutions allow for pleasure or good things in children’s lives.
[Image: Rope skipping games of the past | Online phone games of our era]
Today, children find entertainment more in the things of modern life. It’s true they continue to take a little pleasure in some of the ways children of the past did, but they have also set aside many of the things that used to be distractions due to technological developments. The influence of technology has caused them to discard many past games that especially encouraged bodily activity. Let’s talk about electronic game consoles and online games.
Electronic game consoles
It is important to know that several game consoles were already active in other developed countries—for example: the Magnavox Odyssey and Atari, which eventually lost its place with the arrival of Nintendo. They appeared on the market as early as 1972 and continued their race until 1989, when underdeveloped countries began to use them.
The arrival of the Internet
The Internet has given children many, many possibilities to find online games. This has caused them to replace a vast amount of pastimes from the past with forms of electronic games through the creation of a mountain of computer game software. We could take, for example: Las Vegas, Dixit, Diamant, Santorini, Kingdomino, etc. Nowadays, they play more football, tic-tac-toe, racing, Frogger, and checkers on the computer. But when you observe a child in these forms of play, you can make several observations.
Let us look at some advantages of today’s games along with some disadvantages that modern games have as well.
Here are some advantages modern games provide:
Children find varied distractions (because there are so many electronic and online games),
Opening up to the international economic market,
They encourage youth to develop high intellectual levels regarding technology.
It isn’t just advantages they provide. They can also cause some disadvantages. Among them we can cite:
Modern games reduce physical activities,
They produce addiction in young people,
And they discourage interpersonal and social interaction.
Let’s speak in more detail about the advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages of modern games
They provide distraction: You cannot say that when a child of today is playing on a phone, they aren’t distracted. Since they have a vast majority of games they can choose from, it results in them being able to spend a whole day playing one or several of these games. When they are tired of one, they can take another very quickly. Not only can they provide a lot of distraction, but they can also have a practical advantage: they familiarize children with many types of modern software, which also prepares them for the job market.
They allow for job creation: This is one of the good things modern games bring. Many professions have been born; many engineers and technicians find good employment. While playing online, they are also building many of their technical talents and skills. Let’s take the example of online games that allow children to dress dolls or create “avatar” characters. This can help them become creative in the field of drawing. And there are children who develop this talent either to create games, make film animations, draw for marketing, logos, videos, or website design, etc.
Opening an international market: They allow for the opening of an international market where a lot of money is circulated. It isn’t just one or two million dollars of investment made in the game industry to create software, produce devices, etc.
They require serious concentration: Closely observe a child playing on one of the gaming devices we just mentioned—on a computer or phone—you will see these activities require a level of concentration that is not small.
They are based on intellect, even exceeding 90%: Modern games rely more on the intellectual activity of the child playing. A child doing these activities makes a lot of intellectual effort.
Disadvantages of modern games
They cause a reduction in physical activity: This means their influence on children’s lives causes physical activities to decrease because many of them are satisfied staying on a device to distract themselves. They play more electronic football now than real football, which would allow for the development of physical techniques while the intelligence of action was simultaneously developing.
They produce addiction: Oh yes. Children playing on computers often lose themselves, where they become so addicted to these games that they neglect other important aspects of their lives—such as their homework, the lessons they have to study, and their hygiene. And what’s worse, this can have an effect on their health, where they become obese. They eat just anything, especially junk food (fridòdòy); ready-made things, sweets, and soda. If you know a young person on the way to reaching this level, please encourage them to lead a balanced life that includes physical activity.
[Image: Mobile devices can cause addiction]
Reduction of social interaction: Furthermore, modern distractions and pastimes on computers, or others people use on the internet by means of tablets or smartphones, reduce interpersonal and social interactions. This is the result of the fact that children remain alone. There can be many other disadvantages that we haven’t spoken of in this topic. For example: children sometimes imitate the bad mindset of characters in electronic games: they can be violent, they can use bad language, and they can even have less respect for their parents. Perhaps we can speak on these aspects in another article.
Encourage balance in children’s play
In summary, it is not normal for someone to imagine a child’s life without an environment that favors them entertaining themselves through the games they play. Play is part of the essentials a child needs for the development of their body and intelligence. Therefore, without it, it is as if they are in prison, and that will have consequences on their life. But similarly, it is very important for children not to be addicted to video games. Specialists advise that children’s video game time should not be long so that they do not lose themselves. This often makes a bad impact on their studies in school.
We know that due to the interest and some benefits these games carry, they will continue to develop and become more refined, but children need to play many games that encourage not only intellectual development but also physical development—especially the types of games that guarantee respect for one another while the atmosphere of social togetherness continues to be established.
Are there some other advantages and disadvantages you want to share with us in addition to those we just listed, either about games of the past or distractions of the modern era? 💁 Please share your answer in the comments. We will be very happy. Before too long, we will bring you another topic in this section. If you found yourself in this article, do not hesitate to react: 👍 Like, 🔔 Subscribe, and ↗️ Share. It will please us very, very much.
