All Work and No Play: Why Your Kids Are More Anxious, Depressed By Esther Entin For more than fifty years, children’s free play time has been continually declining, and it’s keeping them from turning into confident adults From long summer days to a few precious after-school hours, kid-organized play may have filled much of your free time. What are your memories of playing as a child? Some of us will remember hide and seek, house, tag, and red rover red rover. Others may recall arguing about rules in kickball or stick ball or taking turns at jump rope, or creating imaginary worlds with our dolls, building forts, putting on plays, or dressing-up. From long summer days to a few precious after-school hours, kid-organized play may have filled much of your free time. But what about your children? Are their opportunities for play the same as yours were? Most likely not. Full article