4 ms·
This may be obvious to everyone else, but it wasn't until I adopted a dog that I realized how much "playing" is reinforcing skills needed for survival, like hun
by noodlenotes 6y ago
This may be obvious to everyone else, but it wasn't until I adopted a dog that I realized how much "playing" is reinforcing skills needed for survival, like hunting and fighting. When dogs play with each other, they mostly wrestle or chase. It's hopefully in a non-violent context at the dog park, but it exercises the same muscles and reflexes that dogs would need for real fighting. It's been cool seeing my dog grow up and get better at skills like catching a ball in midair (chasing prey).
Even human play mimics skills needed for survival, we just need more complicated skills, like war strategy and creativity. Just think about sports, board games, and so on.
- xyzelement 6y agoSame with playing with my 5 months old son. Playing forces him to track objects, grasp, pull/push, try to roll over to get something, etc.
- kqr 6y agoI'm glad I took the time before my baby was born to read a bit about human development and the purpose of laughter and so on. It made me realise how similar a human infant is to a baby chimpanzee. And sure enough, my baby loves being treated like one, with the fake climbing and play wrestling and whatnot.
- vram22 6y agoWhat is fake climbing?
- kqr 6y agoHe really wants to climb things and me, and probably has the strength for it, but lacks the coordination to successfully apply his strength toward that goal. But if I help out by supporting him (physically) he gets to experiment with various ways to grab hold of things and pretend that's the reason he's gaining altitude too.
- vram22 6y agoGot it, interesting :)