I still remember roughhousing with my dad and brother when I was a kid.  Those are some fun memories!  As a teacher, I always felt so bad when I had to tell a parent that their child was roughhousing at school because I know that roughhousing is very important to healthy child development, but school is just not the place for it!  I always told the parents not to stop doing it at home, just to have conversations with their children about appropriate behavior in different locations/settings.

Like I said, roughhousing is very important to healthy child development because it can teach children so many things: their parents love them; their parents are strong people that can control them; their parents won’t control them unless it’s necessary; and parents are people who are powerful, kind, and gentle. “Power relies on an ability to do two things: set limits and get people to fall in love with them.” (128) Kids like to roughhouse because they love their parents and want to be like them.  Gentle roughhousing helps kids bond and teaches them about authority.  Jim and Charles Fay say that you need to “create a balance between play and discipline.” (126)

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