“Play is children’s work.
It is an exercise in self-definition; it reveals what we choose to do, not what we have to do.
We not only play because we are. We play the way we are. And the ways we could be.
Play is our free connection to pure possibility.”
Hara Estroff Marano, “The Power of Play”
The psychologist quoted above, Hara Estroff Marano, argues that modern attitudes to parenting mean anxious mums and dads are crowding out the unsupervised play that kids used to enjoy. As a result children don’t get much opportunity to solve their own problems, to practice co-operation and to test their leadership skills.
This is where play comes in – in one of the most naturally interesting, egalitarian and safe places that a family can spend time together … a zoo.