In 2003, officials at the Central Okanagan school district put forward a proposal to get rid of recess at its elementary schools. The idea was supported by all the district's principals, who were convinced the plan would reduce misbehaviour by kids and leave teachers more time for instruction.
Parents, however, rebelled.
And after a survey found 98 per cent of parents opposed to the idea, the district backed down and recess was saved.
To many parents, the importance of play is obvious -- children, especially young children, need unstructured time to pretend, interact with their peers and explore the world around them.
Yet, at the same time, play is increasingly under attack: from schools trying to cram more into the day and, often, from parents themselves, who see it as an expendable luxury when compared to more "productive" activities like tutoring, organized sports or piano lessons.
Indeed, time-use surveys conducted by the University of Michigan suggest that, since the early 1980s, the amount of time U.S. children devote to free play has dropped considerably -- in the case of outdoor play, by 50 per cent -- with a corresponding increase in organized sports, music lessons and studying.
"We have this culture of fear. Everybody wants their children to be a success story. And they think the best way to do that is to shove more information at them," said Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, director of the Infant Language Laboratory at Temple University in Philadelphia and an expert on play.
However, a growing body of research suggests that play is more than just fun and games -- that it serves a real purpose in children's social and intellectual development.
"A lot of what we learn in the sandbox and in free play actually builds the skills of working together and figuring out how to negotiate with one another," said Hirsh-Pasek. "Sometimes as adults we get so far away from their world, we forget how rich it can be."
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