“Playing is not the opposite of learning; playing is learning,” argues a piece by clinical psychologist Erica Reischer an excerpt from her newly-released book What Great Parents Do: 75 Simple Strategies for Raising Kids Who Thrive published in The Atlantic. As more school-age children and young adults struggle to balance piles of homework with athletic or extracurricular achievements, potentially even developing mental illnesses, Reischer suggests that a “backdoor” approach may be more effective in helping students achieve success. Her alternative to more traditional methods of measuring achievement and potential? Encouraging students to practice and develop skills related to self-control — for younger kids, that could be through imaginative play. Older adolescents should be allowed to participate in activities of their own selection, be it something as (seemingly) obscure as knitting, as opposed to “someone else’s ideas about what will best position them for a competitive college or career.” Engagement, rather than striving for a particular goal, is what she encourages.