A kind of benign coma  

Here's an interesting piece on adult-child play from an anthropological perspective:

American-style parent-child play is a distinct feature of wealthy developed countries -- a recent byproduct of the pressure to get kids ready for the information-age economy, Lancy argues in a recent article in American Anthropologist, the field's flagship journal in the United States.

"Adults think it is silly to play with children" in most cultures, says Lancy, who teaches at Utah State University. Play is a cultural universal, he concedes, "but adults aren't part of the picture." Yet middle-class and upper-middle-class Americans -- abetted, he says, by psychologists -- are increasingly proclaiming the parents-on-all-fours style the One True Way to raise a smart, well-adjusted child.

I do think it's interesting that Lancy refers to play as a cultural universal. If play is really universal across cultures, isn't it likely possible that it's not a cultural phenomenon at all? I assume children who are isolated from other children (or even playful parents) still play.

(While I'm on the subject of parenting practice, here's an article in praise that I found particularly interesting a couple months back -- when I wasn't really blogging.)