The Play Deficit

        In The Play Deficit, Peter Gray offers his viewpoint on playing and how it might even be more important than school.  He discusses the fact that certain people will say that learning is more important than playing, when in fact, playing is learning.  He says, "you can't teach creativity; all you can do is let it blossom, and it blossoms in play."  This overlaps with Rosin's idea of free range and the importance of independence as a child.  Gray backs up this thinking with stats on adolescent mental disorders like depression and anxiety being at their highest in this generation.  Just as Rosin thought that more play would lead to a more balanced and intelligent adult life, Gray adds the fact that it can affect mental stability as well.
       Gray also discusses alternatives to schooling like the Sudbury Valley school, which allows complete educational freedom to kids.  This idea reminded me of playgrounds like 'The Land' discussed in Rosin's article, which are built for free range and unsupervised play.  Both seem to be the   extremes, but they offer an interesting take on how a child should be raised.
       Both Gray and Rosin have very similar viewpoints on this topic, but they offer different perspectives to prove their point.  In The Overprotected Child,  there was more of a focus on individual parenting and their role, whereas Gray focuses on a bigger picture, looking at other animal behaviors compared to ours and even looking at the government and their plans for education.  It is interesting to see how this can be such a widespread topic, and how different people look at it.  But overall, both articles were in sync with the fact that children not only need to play more often, but need to be supervised less and in their element to grow up prepared for adult life.