Paula Summit (Summit5)
Moderator
Username: Summit5
Post Number: 96
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 24, 2006 - 9:05 am: |       |
The Value of Play
A Forum on Risk, Recreation, and Children’s Health
WHEN: Wednesday, May 31, 2006; 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM
WHERE: American Enterprise Institute, 1150 Seventeenth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036
WHAT: Children in America have lost significant opportunities for active, stimulating, and creative play that used to be commonplace; as a result, childhood obesity has risen and children’s social and cognitive development has suffered. Playgrounds have become boring – stripped of seesaws, slides, swings, and jungle gyms. Sledding on snowy hills in public parks is in legal jeopardy. Fear of being sued and fear of even the slightest risk are increasingly leading to a sedentary childhood, even if that leads to the far greater health risks associated with obesity and lack of exercise.
On May 31, 2006, the AEI-Brookings Joint Center and Common Good will convene a conference to consider the relationship between America’s growing aversion to risk and the development and health of our children. The Value of Play conference will bring together, for the first time, leaders in the fields of playground and landscape design, childhood development and health, and law to explore the relationship between risk, recreation, and children’s health.
The conference will consist of three panels. The first panel will be led by Susan G. Solomon, author of American Playgrounds: Revitalizing Community Space, and will include representatives from education and government to discuss the role that legal fear and risk aversion have had upon playground design and recreation activities. The second panel will be composed of experts in childhood development and health and will be led by Joe L. Frost, Professor Emeritus at The University of Texas and a leading expert on issues relating to play and playgrounds. This panel will explore the nature of play, its importance to children’s cognitive, social, and physical development, and the decline in children’s physical activity and health associated with reduced opportunities for play. The third panel will be led by Philip K. Howard, a prominent New York lawyer, author of The Death of Common Sense and The Collapse of the Common Good, and Chair of Common Good. It will discuss societal attitudes toward risk and the steps that can be taken to restore the pleasures and lessons that playgrounds and recreation can provide our children.
MORE INFORMATION (including panelists and draft agenda) is available at: http://cgood.org/f-valueofplay.html. A two-page summary of the event, including a draft agenda, is attached as well.
RSVP: To register for this event, please e-mail rsvp@cgood.org with your name, organization, title, and mailing address. Space is limited, so please respond early. If you have any questions, please e-mail Andrew Park at apark@cgood.org.
Andrew T. Park
Research and Program Associate
1730 Rhode Island Avenue, Suite 308
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202.293.7450 x 13
Fax: 202.293.7451
E-mail: apark@cgood.org
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Conference Summary and Agenda
