Are playpens (playards) physically or mentally damaging?

Question

I just cancelled my order for a playpen. The playpen that I ordered is 1.2 m x 2 m (we live in a city apartment). I read online that putting your baby in a playpen is akin to neglect. Babies placed in a playpen could grow up to be less intelligent than their peers because they are not free to explore their surroundings. Their curiosity and creativity will be dampened apparently. They could experience developmental delay because they can't access furniture to assist them to stand or walk. In addition, I read that it may cause depression because of the isolation. They could even experience language delay because of being left alone. What do you think?

Another thing I was thinking was, what if I sit in the playpen and play with her? Because one of the annoying things is having to contain her to stop her from hurting herself (we have tile floors so she gets hurt when she falls down). I was thinking I'd put a soft playmat inside the playpen.

Answer 1

First off, relax. You sound like you're doing the New Parent Thing and assuming that every potential mistake is a potential disaster! If you're sensible and careful, things will be fine.

Putting a child in a playpen doesn't mean that you're neglecting them. It doesn't mean that they're isolated. It doesn't mean that they don't have access to toys. Whilst in the playpen, they won't have furniture to help them stand and walk but they -will- have the playpen itself.

A playpen is a way to limiting your child's ability to travel. That's -all- that it is.

If they're in a playpen that's large enough, safely constructed, with enough things to keep them entertained and where you can keep an eye on them (and let them be with you) then there's no harm.

Use your common sense. Keep providing love, protection and care and everything will be okay.

Answer 2

If all you ever did was leave the child in a playpen you might have a point. But when used as a place to keep the child safe when you can't give it your full attention, they are invaluable.

Youngster is taking a nap and by golly you need one too? Put em in and lay yourself down. If it wakes before you - it's in a safe place.

Need to answer the door / fold laundry / start dinner / shower / use the bathroom? In it goes for a few minutes.

Equating constant use of it with occasional use is silly. If, however, a parent ise using it as an excuse not to childproof their place and is looking to limit the child to the pen for most of the time, then I think the neglect is indeed happening, but the problem isn't the playpen. At that point the playpen is just a tool to enable neglect.

Answer 3

You might be thinking of something like the old experiments showing the self-destructive behavior of animals restrained to fairly small areas with no mental stimulation.

Here's a relevant TED talk. See especially the section around 3:25:

You get a rat and you put it in a cage, and you give it two water bottles: One is just water, and the other is water laced with either heroin or cocaine. If you do that, the rat will almost always prefer the drug water and almost always kill itself quite quickly. So there you go, right? That's how we think it works. In the '70s, Professor Alexander comes along and he looks at this experiment and he noticed something. He said ah, we're putting the rat in an empty cage. It's got nothing to do except use these drugs. Let's try something different. So Professor Alexander built a cage that he called "Rat Park," which is basically heaven for rats. They've got loads of cheese, they've got loads of colored balls, they've got loads of tunnels. Crucially, they've got loads of friends. They can have loads of sex. And they've got both the water bottles, the normal water and the drugged water. But here's the fascinating thing: In Rat Park, they don't like the drug water. They almost never use it. None of them ever use it compulsively. None of them ever overdose. You go from almost 100 percent overdose when they're isolated to zero percent overdose when they have happy and connected lives.

So don't worry about the playpen. It can be a good way to keep the child within safe bounds and explore and try new things without getting hurt, which teaches the kid to not fear trying things that might not work out. If there are stimulating toys and important social connections, that's the important part.

Another thing I was thinking was, what if I sit in the playpen and play with her?

Yes, do this. The main concerns that seem to underly your question are those things that can result from leaving the kid alone for long periods without much stimulation or opportunity to learn, even if the kid is not in a playpen.