The War Play Dilemma: What Every Parent And Teacher Needs to Know (Early Childhood Education Series (Teachers College Pr)) (Early Childhood Education (Teacher's College Pr)) [Paperback]

Diane E. Levin (Author), Nancy Carlsson-Paige (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2005 | Series: Early Childhood Education (Teacher's College Pr)

As violence in the media and media-linked toys increases, parents and teachers are also seeing an increase in childrenÂ’s war play. The authors have revised this popular text to provide more practical guidance for working with children to promote creative play, and for positively influencing the lessons about violence children are learning.

Using a developmental and sociopolitical viewpoint, the authors examine five possible strategies for resolving the war play dilemma and show which best satisfy both points of view: banning war play; taking a laissez-faire approach; allowing war play with specified limits; actively facilitating war play; and limiting war play while providing alternative ways to work on the issues. New for the Second Edition:

* More anecdotal material about adultsÂ’ and childrenÂ’s experiences with war play, including examples from both home and school settings.
* Greater emphasis on the impact of media and commercialization on childrenÂ’s war play, including recent trends in media, programming, marketing, and war toys.
* Expanded discussion about the importance of the distinction between imitative and creative war play.
* Summary boxes of key points directed at teachers or parents.
* New information about violent video games, media cross feeding, and gender development and sex-role stereotyping.
* A more extensive list of resources and further reading for adults and children.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Diane E. Levin is Professor at Wheelock College in Boston, Massachusetts.

Nancy Carlsson-Paige is a professor at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: Teachers College Press; 2nd edition (November 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080774638X
• ISBN-13: 978-0807746387
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #525,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Common sense approach to a complex subject, October 27, 2007

By 

MLR (Brattleboro, VT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The War Play Dilemma: What Every Parent And Teacher Needs to Know (Early Childhood Education Series (Teachers College Pr)) (Early Childhood Education (Teacher's College Pr)) (Paperback)

Carlsson-Paige and Levin give seasoned and accessible help to parents who are trying to determine if the behavior they are seeing warrants concern or not. They help us see the difference between developmentally appropriate conflict/ weapon play and the truly worrying obsesion that "entertaiment" media has blown it up to be.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every parent should read this, December 28, 2009

By 

WoodsMom (Adirondacks, NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The War Play Dilemma: What Every Parent And Teacher Needs to Know (Early Childhood Education Series (Teachers College Pr)) (Early Childhood Education (Teacher's College Pr)) (Paperback)

This is a fantastic book that every US parent should read. It helps parents come up with a balanced approach to a big problem in the USA -- created, the authors suggest, by media deregulation during the Reagan Administration leading to an unholy alliance of children's media producers and toy producers, who sell macho agression to boys and sexualized behavior to girls. This tends to lock children into stereotyped roles through continuous bombardment of a narrow set of messages interlocked with a set of toys with only one obvious way to use them. Beyond encouraging aggression, children's creativity is hurt as well. Especially useful is the long list of suggestions (including things to say) towards the end of the book. It's OK to be angry or scared; it's what we do with our feelings that matter. We have bought extra copies of this book to give away to other families. One of the authors has a book about the girl side of this media problem: So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids