Do kids need alone time? Does solitude help them grow?

Many of us can never fathom giving a kid alone time. Kids, who to be very true, need contact supervision all the time, should never be left alone. Be it the smaller ones or the slightly bigger babies they always require someone to look after them.

While the smaller ones do not have an understanding of their surroundings and need their mom and dad to help them acquaint themselves, the bigger ones who already know a thing or two need to be looked after as they are always on an exploration spree.

These days parenting has changed a lot. Parents are busy accommodating parenting with their professional lives, which for several reasons has taken a top priority in the lives of many couples.

Moreover, parents believe that constantly supervising kids does not leave them with much time to explore themselves which is an important part of development.

According to Mark Sabbagh, a psychology professor and lead investigator at the Early Experience Lab at Queen’s University in Ontario, encouraging your kids to play on their own is a good idea and always has been.

“So sometimes they’re working through how physics works by building with blocks, or sometimes they’re working on how people work in a dramatic play kind of setting. They’ve usually got ideas about how things work so through play, “they’re trying out those ideas, and then they’re observing the results of those ideas in an environment that they have themselves sculpted," Sabbagh told the Washington Post.

Sittervising!

A newly coined term which has pulled a new trending among parents, is sitterversing. This roughly means supervising kids while sitting and is believed to be a trend that benefits both moms and the kids.

"The expression was coined by former teacher Susie Allison who introduced it on her Busy Toddler Instagram page. It just means supervising kids while you sit down, not directly engaging with them," a report in Today said.

"You do not need to hover over kids while they play OR feel like you absolutely must be playing with them at all times. You can supervise kids from a seated position.Kids need play without adults. Adults need time to recharge from kids.

Do you sittervise when you can? Comment below with encouragement for others. Sittervising is a good thing," Allison captions her video of sittervising her kids as they play along on their own.

In response to Allison's Instagram post, Emily Dianne replies, "My daughter is 3.5 and has ASD and is non verbal, sometime sittervising is the the only acceptable form of play for her. I just let her be her and that's the way she likes it. When she wants me to join oh boy she will let me know."

Several other Instagram users have hailed Allison's concept.

"Being a peds ICU nurse I struggle with this. It’s hard for me to step away as I’m afraid that my daughter (2.5yrs) might hurt herself or something bad could happen. I know that there has to be a balance of being attentive yet, still giving her space and I appreciate yet another reminder that it is totally OK to give more space," writes one user.

Not all are in favour of this parenting concept. Some say it is not a fit-for-all practice.

"While I like this concept, it doesn’t really work with only children. If I’m just sitting there, she’s wanting a buddy to play with. And again, independent play is still encouraged, it’s not inherent when it’s just them. And also seems unfair a lot of the time," writes Nicole.

I truly believe in it but as a nanny I’ve worked for plenty of parents who were not cool with it. I only work for people who “get” childhood development in the legit way now, writes another user.

While this is not something out of place, practicing sitterversing where it actually benefits the parents and the kids should be encouraged.

For those parents this seems new, giving it a try once in a while might not do any harm.

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