In a classic Psychology Today article, Eileen Kennedy-Moore, PhD makes an argument for rough play for boys, in the spirit of The Art of Roughhousing. How she thinks that boys are unique in their needs for proprioceptive contact and vestibular play is a bit baffling—girls need this input as well.

"Adults, especially women who aren’t personally familiar with rough play, often try to stop rough-housing because they don’t want anyone to get hurt. But research tells us that, overall, rough play turns into a real fight only about 1% of the time among elementary school boys (Smith, 2010)," Kennedy-Moore writes.

"In order to have fun with rough play, kids need to know how to do it right--to keep it light by taking turns, not being too rough, not overreacting or getting offended when there's no mean intent. Usually, it’s kids who have trouble with self-control who end up causing injuries in rough play."

Despite the gender bias, the article is otherwise an interesting read.

photo: Mightymightybigmac/Flicker via Psychology Today