Ballet on Monday, football on Tuesday, piano on Wednesday, catechism on Thursday, play dates on Fridays...

Very few children have the chance to play passju outdoors, have fun with dolls on the kitchen floor or climb trees in Buskett.

Faced with packed schedules, there is no time left for the real business of childhood: idle, creative, unstructured free time.

While busy rushing around, are the young ones getting enough time to play? Not really, according to a Canadian child educator.

Blondine Maurice, a Waldorf teacher, will be in Malta this month to give a workshop on Simple Parenting and the Importance of Play.

“We need to discover simple changes for less stress, less clutter, less frenetic activity to allow more calm in our families’ life and more energy for connection, relaxation and fun,” Ms Maurice said.

As a teacher in Quebec for more than 30 years, she speaks of what sets Waldorf education apart, which, she says, is more holistic in approach.

“We are different: we educate the head, heart and hands. Our task is to help each child unfold in his/her own way, hopefully without stressing them by comparing or exams. The child learns for himself, not for the teacher,” she said.

In Waldorf schools – created by Rudolf Steiner in 1919 – of which there is a preschool nursery in Malta, there is no competitive testing, no academic placement and no behaviouristic rewards.

Academic subjects are presented in a pictorial and dynamic manner and teaching is based on generating enthusiasm for learning to create joyful lifelong education, which is why Ms Maurice will be highlighting the importance of play.

“In the name of success, we get children to read early or play violin by three years or organise activities after school every day of the week instead of just letting them play,” she said.

She quotes Stuart Brown, a pioneer in research on play and president of the National Institute for Play, who says that it is a central part of neurological growth and development and is one important way for children to build complex, skilled, responsive, socially-adept and cognitively flexible brains.

Today’s busier, faster, supersized society is waging an undeclared war on childhood

Dr Brown says humour, games, flirtation and fantasy are more than just fun. Plenty of play in childhood makes for happy, smart adults. Ms Maurice believes ‘simple parenting’ is crucial. “This concept is growing. It is a bit like the slow food movement: if you want your children to get rid of all the attention deficit disorders, you have to simplify and slow down,” she said.

The brainchild of Kim John Payne, Simplicity Parenting calls for an end to “over-cluttered” parenting. Right from the cradle, said Ms Maurice, parents started to overwhelm their children with too much stuff: toys, books, screen media.

She describes today’s busier, faster, supersized society as “waging an undeclared war on childhood”.

With all the distraction, there is little time to spend quietly alone.

“I love what Kim says: give children the gift of boredom, out of boredom comes creativity,” said Ms Maurice.

To simplify family life, all we need to do is “rediscover the family” and giving our children “a flying start” by doing less, hover less and enjoy more.

How easy it is to ditch the screens, skip ballet and football, open the front door and go and play passju?

According to Ms Maurice, who has raised seven children and now helps out with eight grandchildren, it is not impossible.

The School of Positivity in Malta will be holding a seminar on November 9 starting at 9am. For more information e-mail contact@schoolofpositivity.com or call 9982 2378.