Hyper-parenting, Play, Tears

Last night there was a documentary on the importance of play for children and how parents by 'hyper-parenting' and scheduling every aspect of a kid's life, have eliminated his/her opportunities for free play. It emphasized that free-play was a kid's way of learning adaption, problem-solving, and creativity. It also mentioned that kids today only have 1/9th their 'play-radius' compared to what they had in 1970 and that with all the organized activities they are involved in, they don't play enough by themselves. Unfortunately, I fell asleep at that time and missed out on how the whole thing turns out!

I find it interesting that my almost 4 yead old kid is obsessed with play, especially by himself. Last week, I bought him a $3.99 car carrier toy:

He was so obsessed with this toy that he played with it for hours and the next day, cried when he could not take it with him to daycare!

A week earlier, I took him to Harbourfront with him and bought him a 'modern' train:

This too, obsessed him for a number of hours. I don't want to give the impression that I buy him lots of toys (I don't) or that he grows bored with them quickly (he doesn't). Lucky for us, he plays with them for a while, then puts them away, and later brings them back into circulation a few weeks later.

Yesterday, he showed me something new. He picked up a stick, put it beside his head and told me he was a 'reindeer.' I took his picture at his request:

I'm curious if anyone has any thoughts about the nature of play and childhood and their experience with it. I like to think kids are pretty resilent, even in the face of 'hyper-parenting.'