How Play Is Related to Mental Health – a Basic Guide for Parents

By Jayashree Nanda - Updated: June 13, 2019

Playing is an amazing process to stimulate and help with brain development. The Indian parenting style concentrates primarily on physical growth only. We never care for mental health development. Mental health is much more important than physical health. A baby has a trillion nerve cells at the time of birth but unfortunately, if they’re not taken care of, the number of nerve cells decreases according to the growth of the child. The restoration process will never completely be fulfilled by physical care measures like nutrition and vaccination. But when a child is getting enough amount of play and physical activities, the neurons are restored.

Most importantly, play helps to develop:

Cognitive skill
Motor skills
Gross motor skills
Understanding of the world
Speaking skill or language development
Social skills
Sensorial development

All of the above skills are needed to help with the improvement of intelligence or mental health. It can be done through play; but not the kind that happens only within four walls, not the kind which calls for loads of expensive toys in a baby’s room, and definitely not the kind that requires handing the child over to the babysitter to play with. The development of some skills take place while playing indoor games; some require nature and sunlight; some need a peer group; and some need just regular playtime at the kitchen table with mommy. It’s important to understand the emotional as well the psychological needs of a child.

Physical health is something that’s always seen, but remember, it’s the unseen mental development that helps create your child’s personality in the future. We give loads of importance to nutrition, diet plans, record our child’s height and weight regularly, but show less concern about skill development. We choose expensive toys, which are worthless, but are not concerned about how even simple games like hide-and-seek, playing ball, pouring water into a drinking glass and so on can help to develop motor skill as well cognitive skills.

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