A Child’s Right to Play
Reducing the crime rate starts at a young age
When dealing with young children in the society, former Toronto Police officer and program head of justice studies at the University of Guelph-Humber Gary Ellis said we need to give them hope.
“A lot of the interactions with police is with young people who are also in trouble,” he said, “and they come from communities that there’s not much hope so they take on the gangster life style because that becomes their hope.”
Communities where there is hopelessness need to be looked at and improved because young people need hope of education, he explained.
Annie Robinson is the author of an article titled: To what extent does nurture cause a child to grow up to be a criminal?
In it she writes, “it is widely agreed that the nurture of a child during their early years can shape behavior later on in life, possibly resorting to criminal activity.”
Justice studies student at Guelph-Humber Kelly De Decker said, “children are such a vulnerable population and we should be supporting them. As a population that will be generating a lot of change over our lives it is important that we educate them as much as possible.”
Though playing is not a right outlined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, justice studies student Chris Duvall said, “looking at how essential ‘play’ is for children, in order to allow; the development of social skills, creativity, relationships and cognitive skills, I believe all children should have the opportunity to experience the act of “play” from an early age.”
A global organization based in Toronto called Right To Play, focuses on using play-based activities to educate and empower children facing diversity in disadvantaged communities. They say they use sports and play to teach children how to protect themselves from diseases, and to teach them model ways to resolve conflict.
The communications manager at Right To Play Kyla Pearson said, “We have designed a library of games and activities that focus on conveying a specific message.” The organization uses sports like dodge ball and volleyball to teach kids communication and teamwork.
Pearson says when they are invited into a community; they assess the community and tailor their play program to address its specific needs.
One example is the larger program they run in the Middle East, in countries like Pakistan that have been struck by war. Pearson said, “our main focus there often is peaceful conflict resolution and peace building.”
SGI which stands for Soka Gakkai International is an organization that is a worldwide network of lay Buddhists dedicated to a common vision of a better world through the empowerment of the individual and the promotion of peace, culture and education.
Speaker for SGI Tony Meers said, “What children experience when they are young in life is going to have a profound effect on their later development.” He said SGI places emphasis of the happiness of children and on building a culture of peace.
Justice studies student, Aliyah Mitchell believes society should produce more organizations like Right to Play and SGI that can tend to children when they are young. She said more organizations need to create a program to teach children important skills and ideals to prevent them from making the wrong decisions when they grow up.
About the Author
Chidera Ukairo Is a journalism student at the University of Guelph-Humber. She loves reading both for academic and leisure purposes and enjoys branching out and trying new things. She is young, driven and very hard working.
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