It's summertime -- so where are all the kids?

It wasn't too long ago that children's laughter filled the streets during summer holidays.

But kids today are marched off to overnight camps, computer schools, city day camps, tennis lessons or swimming clubs.

They're overprogrammed and overstimulated -- just like the rest of the year.

"We went out in the morning and didn't come back until we were forced to," says Rae Pica, a U.S. play and physical activity specialist whose many books include A Running Start: How Play, Physical Activity And Free Time Create A Successful Child.

'UNPLANNED'

"We just went out and played and the play was free, spontaneous, unstructured and unplanned."

Pica is among the many childhood experts who mourn the loss of true play.

"Everything today is adult-directed, adult-led and structured," she explains. "When activities are child-directed and child-initiated, children are making their own decisions. They have some control over their world."

Play has become a four-letter dirty word and there's a growing number of professionals who feel that play must be defended if our children are to thrive.

"We seem to be focusing only on children's heads these days," Pica says, adding that some schools have killed recess and others focus only on academics and sports -- the latter not for purposes of enjoyment but as a potential pathway for entry into the best universities or colleges.

In her view, true play centres on the process rather than the product or result -- on the playing of the game rather than the number of goals won or lost.

Play is children's work, someone once observed, while author Diane Ackerman wrote that play is our brain's favourite way of learning.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, play allows children to use their creativity while developing imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive and emotional strength.

Undirected play helps kids to learn how to work in groups, share, negotiate, resolve conflicts and learn self-advocacy. Pica couldn't agree more.

SOCIAL SKILLS

If not through play, then where are children supposed to learn social skills so that they can work, collaborate and co-operate? Pica asks.

"Those skills don't just miraculously appear when they become adults."

Play also encourages self-sufficiency, she adds. How can a child learn to entertain herself if she's spoon-fed activities 24/7? The answer is, she can't.

"Kids need unstructured play," stresses Pica, whose parenting programs can be accessed through her website at www.bodymindandchild.com.

Creativity and imagination are necessary for problem solving at any age, but imagination is destroyed by having adults always directing kids' play, she adds.

Play also helps children to deal with stress and to "play out" fears they can't yet fully understand.

"After 9/11, children acted out all sorts of scenes that helped them cope," she explains. "During play, they feel in control of their world and there are so few times in their lives when children really feel they are in charge."

How about all these "educational" toys that promise to stimulate creativity and build skill sets?

Or the so-called enrichment tools (including flashcards to help baby learn to read) that promote super-achievers?

In fact, play today is synonymous with toys, leading some to speculate that toy companies have co-opted play.

The best toy is one that has multiple uses, says Pica, who believes a great toy is an old-fashioned set of blocks.

Too little real play, too much screen time and our increasingly overprotective society has also been blamed for a deterioration in children's mental health.

Pica recalls a colleague who admitted he was an overanxious parent who hovered over his child as she climbed on the jungle gym: "It was his wife who reminded him that their child could recover from a broken arm much quicker than a lifetime of anxiety."

Play has definitely changed due to the fear factor.

FEWER TO SUPERVISE

An era of "professional parents," coupled with fewer extended families and more single-parent households means that there are fewer people to supervise kids on the homefront -- thus, more organized and adult-directed play.

No parent wants to deprive her child of play, and most would gladly not have to organize their children's activities -- especially during summer.

But how to let go when kids complain that they're bored?

"Tough," she answers, agreeing that it's a button- pusher. "But a little bit of boredom is good because it can inspire creativity. It helps children learn to be alone. Heaven forbid they get to adulthood and not know how to be alone with themselves and their thoughts."

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