A number of events converged in the last few weeks to remind parents and teachers of the importance of slow, or at least slower, parenting: Turn Off Your TV Week started Monday, the Slow Parenting was in the news, and the recession forced many families to scale back.

Together, these elements are refocusing the debate about the benefits of slowing things down for your kids. This is not simply a theoretical discussion. Researchers, for example, suggest unstructured play helps brain development and promotes early learning skills, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported in 2007.

Undirected play allows children to learn how to work in groups, to share, to negotiate, to resolve conflicts, and to learn self-advocacy skills.^7,10,11,16 When play is allowed to be child driven, children practice decision-making skills, move at their own pace, discover their own areas of interest, and ultimately engage fully in the passions they wish to pursue. – The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds, Pediatrics, Jan. 2007.

But, today’s hurried parenting culture may offer less time for this important skill development, authors suggest.

Despite the numerous benefits derived from play for both children and parents, time for free play has been markedly reduced for some children. This trend has even affected kindergarten children, who have had free play reduced in their schedules to make room for more academics. A 1989 survey taken by the National Association of Elementary School Principals found that 96% of surveyed school systems had at least 1 recess period. Another survey a decade later found that only 70% of even kindergarten classrooms had a recess period. – Pediatrics, Jan. 2007.

Despite all the focus on teachers and caregivers in the early learning debate, this is reminder that parents play the critical role, whether it is slowing down, cooking healthy meals or reading to their kids.

And the doctors’ group isn’t suggesting all those new parenting tools – Mandarin lessons, afterschool programs and intensive tutoring – are bad, only that maybe we need a better balance.

I am not unbiased on slow parenting. In my last job, I wrote a lot about the cultural goal of work-family balance until I realized it was joke for my family, a media-driven illusion of a magical formula - just the right amount of hours at work, family time and date nights - that would create a harmonious family. Instead, we try to embrace the occasional chaos that is part of raising a young family.

Plus, slowing down is a good parenting tool, the AAP article suggests.

Parents who have the opportunity to glimpse into their children’s world learn to communicate more effectively with their children and are given another setting to offer gentle, nurturing guidance.