No Surprise: Kids Need to Play, Blow Off Steam

As the pressures of NCLB accountability have caused schools to cut free time and recess — depriving children of exercise and socialization — unruly classrooms are the result, Reuters reports. A new study by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine compared the behavior of 10,000 children aged eight and nine, finding that children who had at least a 15-minute break during the school day had superior classroom behavior. The report, which was published in the journal Pediatrics, states that “recess may play an important role in the learning, social development, and health of children in elementary school.” The research team added that lack of free time had implications for the obesity epidemic, and raised concerns “in light of evidence that many children from disadvantaged backgrounds are not free to roam their neighborhoods or even their own yards unless they are accompanied by adults,” the team said. “For many of these children, recess periods may be the only opportunity for them to practice their social skills with other children.”  Continue reading this article at http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE50P0PK20090126.  To view the report from Albert Einstein College please visit http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/short/123/2/431.