The role of play in early childhood development: parental perceptions of urban area in Bangladesh

Abstract

Play is a universal and intrinsic predisposition that is regarded to be one of the most significant components of general health and development during childhood. Play provides youngsters with valuable experiences and knowledge that they will need later in life. The efforts of a child's parents and family have a big impact on the child's growth and learning ability. The study demonstrates parents investigate play-related attitudes, beliefs, and practices, as well as their perceptions of play for the development of their three to five-year-old children. In all, sixteen parents took part in this qualitative investigation. Data were collected from parent focus groups and interviews. . The study discovered that most parents have an understanding of early years child development, but there are gaps in their knowledge and practice. Despite this fact, all the participants expressed their positive attitude about play-based learning and expressed that play just cannot be an option due to its significance for a child. The result of the study has revealed that most of the parents have basic understanding about necessity of play and impact of play deprivation on children. According to them, socialization, brain development, learning development, language development will happen if children play regularly. Additionally, all the participants showed concern about play and expressed that this kind of establishment could be an alternative due to the lack of a playground and security issues.