All work and no play Ten years ago, if a child had been asked what his favorite part of school was, the answer would have been the same across the board: recess . Recess may be remembered as time spent playing tag, climbing on the monkey bars, or seeing who could get the highest on the swing. If you were to ask a child the same question today, their answer would most likely be something along the lines of lunch or physical education. Unfortunately, recess has taken a backseat in many schools across the country. Recreation has become more of a luxury than a daily routine. According to Amanda Paulson, a reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, “Studies have found that up to 40% of U.S. school districts have reduced or eliminated vacations” (Paulson). How would employees in the workplace feel if labor laws allowed employers to take away 40% of their daily breaks? Children see recess as a time to play with their friends and play kickball, but researchers and industry professionals understand that recess plays a much more important role. Why recess has become a thing of the past remains debatable and ranges from the need for more academic education to fears about playground safety. Some school districts and politicians have begun to fight back and try to implement policies to protect recess. The fact that the number of school vacancies remains so high continues to be a cause for concern. Despite school districts' attempts to protect recess, the problem of children being deprived of free play, critical to social, physical and cognitive development, still affects American children every day. The issue of disappearing holidays in schools will be potentially traumatizing for this country... middle of paper... limited periods of time will not allow them to absorb the material that schools try so desperately to teach them. Sedentary behavior will not move this country in the right direction in the slightest towards healthy children who are less likely to face the life-threatening side effects of obesity. Allowing a child to exercise his or her right to explore a playground and learn from his or her environment and peers will prove to provide greater cognitive, physical, and social growth than any amount of reading, writing, or arithmetic can provide. There is a need to take the pressure off teachers' shoulders and replace it with the knowledge and training needed to effectively supervise a safe and secure play environment. Recess plays a vital role in development and desperately needs to be returned to schools across the country before the damage done becomes irreversible.