Play and Work

There are critical differences between play and work. Play is mostly a self-chosen activity by the child, rather than prescribed by a parent or teacher; it is a process, rather than a predicted outcome or product. Work, on the other hand, has a definite intent and a prescribed outcome. In order for an activity to be considered play, the experience must include a measure of inner control, ability to bend or invent reality, and a strong internally based motivation for playing. If parents and educators try to label experiences as play, but in reality have specific requirements for the activity, then it becomes work not play. For example, it is really impossible to play with flash cards whose purpose is to have a child memorize something on each card. This is not playing and children quickly differentiate between pure play and work being disguised as play.

Play is not wasted time, but rather time spent building new knowledge from previous experience. However, long term developmental qualities of play are difficult to research. There are various ways in which researchers may choose to look at the differences between work and play. Researchers may choose definitions of play or work based on the following.

Primary Activities: Even if a culture considers a child’s action is play, a researcher may choose to define the child’s action as work because it does add  immediate worth to the family unit.

The Parent’s Concept: Parents from different cultures define children’s actions of work and play differently. For example, a Mayan mother who’s daughter sets up her own fruit stand may consider this action as play. However, many westerners would consider this work if the child is actually successful at selling items from the fruit stand. A child in the United States who sets up a lemonade stand is considered to be working for money.

The Child’s Concept: Children have different ideas of what play and work are in comparison to adults. A child who is “pretending” to cook may have the belief that he or she is working and contributing to the family.