The Power of Pretend
You peak into your seven-year-old's room to see how he and his best friend are going with their playtime．They are deep in a make-believe in which the superhero fights a monster．'watch out, Superman!' you call out．The kids giggle, then return to their epic struggle.
Do you and your family embrace make-believe? Experts say that pretend play, besides being so much fun, deserves a central place in kids' lives.
From a baby's first to a 's starring role in the school play, the imaginative process calls on all the skills your child has and takes them one step further．Consider just a few of the ways it helps our young ones grow and develop.
Emotional Awareness and Social Skills．'I'll be the mummy, and you be the baby,' three- year-old Abbie koschik directs a friend．'Then I'll be the baby and you be the mummy．Don't cry, baby．Mummy has a bottle for you.'
This is a fairly common scene among young children．Take some time to deconstruct it, though, and we see the brilliance of the play．Abbie is showing some of the qualities necessary for lifelong process: leadership, initiative, self-control, cooperation ,and the remarkable capacity for empathy (移情)--she's imagining and representing the perspectives of both the mother and the baby．That's an awesome feat (成绩), and it's one no other creature in the animal kingdom can match．Not bad for a little girl who still needs her nap every day.
In very practical terms, pretend play also helps kids practice social customs．During a of a house, for example, a child might rehearse saying 'please' and 'thank you' or welcoming guests into the home and them feel comfortable．It's also a safe way for young children to handle new and difficult situations which is why school or visit-to-the-doctor themes are so common．On top of this, pretending does wonders for confidence and self-esteem.
Language, Reading, Maths and Science．Two-year-old Gracie Callahan is playing tea party with her mother．She pretends to sip from her cup, and then says, 'More,' encouraging her mum to continue the with her．Grade and other toddlers are at the adorable (可爱的)and significant age when symbolic thought begins．'All of a sudden, babies can 'make believe,'' says educational psychologist Doffs Bergen of Miami university in Ohio．Bergen, a former kindergarten teacher, explains that reading and maths involve a similar abstract process: a child has to know that squiggles (花体，图形) on paper are symbols representing a word or a number．Gracie's tea party is thus setting the stage for later learning.
As children grow, pretend play continues to go hand-in-hand with academic readiness: Kids enjoy pretending so much that they'll stretch their vocabularies and knowledge to be better at it．A Year One student might pick up the word 'stethoscope' (听诊器)when playing doctor．Year Four students setting up an elaborate space adventure will soak up information about astronomy and astrophysics, and hone their reading skills as they develop their reading skills as they develop their story line．At every age and stage, pretend play speeds learning.
Thinking and planning．When toddlers like Gracie experience their first creative thoughts, many areas of．the mind, says Doris Bergen, are engaged: emotion, intelce, language, the senses, motor skills (运动技巧)．Using these facilities simultaneously creates dense synaptic (染色体联会的) connections, building a multidimensional architecture in the brain．'A more elaborate play life may mean the brain is more elaborate in terms of the thinking process,' she says.
What a perfect plan that the areas of the brain involved in thinking and planning develop so early and strengthen with use．How, for example, could a young child solve the st problem without the ability to imagine an answer? Or why would a t