How Play Therapy can help Kids to overcome Behavioral Problems

Outdoor is the natural habitat for kids. Kids love the green fields, the chirping birds, the floating rivers and the open sky. Play is an integral part of children’s developmental process. When we were kids, we used to spend our evening time in the nearby ground playing various games. Those days, the evening time was more of a fun time for us. But with the growing population and industrialization, open spaces in the metropolises are shrinking day by day. Moreover, kids also get busy in their academics and thus don’t get ample time for free play. Parents often don’t understand the need of play for the kids to develop. The great scholars of the past like Plato and Rousseau also have mentioned of play as an important vehicle to understand and know about the kids. If we closely observe our child’s play activities, we can understand their psychological stand. For example, some kids love to play the role of policeman while others may be interested to play the role of a good housekeeper. The leadership qualities in kids can be seen even in a very young age by means of play. Many kids design their own games with the available resources and this is also a way of their self exploration.

After decades spent in studying the psychology of kids, the psychologists and researchers come up with the conclusion that play cab be used as a therapy for kids who have behavioral problems. We may often notice some kids facing problems to communicate to others or facing some depression. Children, who have experienced some loss or divorce between parents, often feel the loneliness in their lives. This sometime causes depression related problems to them. In such cases, parents can consult the child specialists and go for play therapy. Play Therapy is based upon the fact that play is the child's natural medium of self-expression. It is an opportunity which is given to the child to 'play out' his feelings and problems just as, in certain types of adult therapy, an individual 'talks out' his difficulties. Before starting the therapy, the concerned doctor notes down every detail about the child and based on this information an appropriate treatment modality is chosen. There are host of benefits that this therapy offers. These are discussed below:-

1.    The therapy helps reducing anxiety about traumatic event in the child’s life
2.    A child’s expression of feeling has been facilitated by it
3.    Self-confidence and a sense of competence can be promoted by the play therapy
4.    It defines healthy boundaries
5.    It is also helpful for promoting healthy parent-child relation
6.    Traits like creativity and playfulness in a child can be increased by this therapy
7.    It also make kids understand how to behave in a multiple circumstances

Parents sometime ignore their kids’ unnatural behavior and consider it to be a part of their growth process. Lack of sleep, aggressive behavior, excessive shyness and low self esteem are the signs of behavioral problem in kids. In all cases, the treatment is play-based and child-centered, focusing on the individual needs of the child.