Play is universal. No matter where you go in the world, you will find children playing. Yet many adults don’t recognize how important play is to a child’s development. I know I didn’t until I started studying child psychology. That’s when I learned that play is like another language: it communicates how children feel.

In my early training at Boston Children’s Hospital Medical Center, I was introduced to a group of women known as the “Play Ladies.” Their sole purpose was to use play to help children understand the medical procedures they would be experiencing, and thus minimize their fear.

Much later in my career, play helped me solve the mystery of a missing girl. Through play I learned from the girl’s 3-year-old sister that their mom’s boyfriend had kidnapped her sibling. Using blocks and play dolls, this preschooler built a replica of her bedroom on my office table and played out what had happened. She couldn’t tell me in words, but she could through play.

Over the years I have learned there’s no better way to let a child know that he’s loved than to play with him. When we do, we emotionally connect with that child and establish a real bond. We’re saying that we value him and want to be with him—just the message children need conveyed to them in order to thrive.

Do you know how I break the ice with a child who comes to my office for the first time? I play with him. Soon, we’re no longer strangers. Through a combination of play and conversation I learn what troubles this child. Over the years, a few parents have become angry with me because they felt I was wasting their money playing with their child. I had to explain that play would help their child trust me, talk with me and reveal his feelings.

Have you noticed how children love to play house and school? That’s their way of rehearsing the rules, routines, expectations and values that parents and teachers communicate to them. By playing these scenarios out again and again, children absorb the lessons that teachers and parents are trying to get across. With this kind of play, children are also “practicing” being grown-ups.

For a child, there’s no more constructive pastime than play. While in “real life” they may feel powerless when they’re forever being told what to do and when to do it, in play, they get to call the shots. They can drive cars, build highways, fly airplanes—the sky’s the limit.

Of course, play is also just plain fun. That fact shouldn’t be downplayed. While adults have fun through hobbies, sports and special interests, children have fun through playing.

A few years ago, several child psychiatrists were asked how parents could help prevent their children from developing emotional disorders. Their advice was unanimous: play with them—at least once a day for at least 15 minutes.

It’s wise to consider that “play prescription” a minimum dose. When you consider all of its benefits, you certainly don’t want to set time limits on the fun: instead, play on!