DuPage Medical Group Partners With DuPage Children’s Museum to Promote ‘The Power of Play’

DOWN­ERS GROVE, Ill. — Rec­og­niz­ing the impor­tance of play in healthy child devel­op­ment and its role in help­ing par­ents build strong bonds with their child(ren), DuPage Med­ical Group (DMG) has part­nered with DuPage Chil­dren’s Muse­um (DCM) in Naperville to offer new par­ents a ​“pre­scrip­tion for play”.

The part­ner­ship comes on the heels of a clin­i­cal report pub­lished by the Amer­i­can Acad­e­my of Pedi­atrics (AAP) that shows play enhances the devel­op­ment of social, emo­tion­al, lan­guage and cog­ni­tive skills while alle­vi­at­ing stress and build­ing social-emo­tion­al resilience. The report also encour­ages physi­cians to ​“pre­scribe play­time” by advis­ing par­ents to play with their child(ren) every day.

“Play is incred­i­bly impor­tant in a child’s healthy devel­op­ment,” said Dr. Don Sei­d­man, pedi­a­tri­cian and chair of the DMG Pedi­atrics depart­ment. ​“It encour­ages chil­dren to be phys­i­cal­ly active, devel­op prob­lem-solv­ing skills, learn how to inter­act with oth­ers, use their imag­i­na­tion and much more.”

As part of the part­ner­ship, DMG will spon­sor DCM’s ​“Daniel Tiger’s Neigh­bor­hood: A Grr-ific Exhib­it”, where chil­dren and their par­ents can explore Daniel Tiger’s neigh­bor­hood as they play, sing, use their imag­i­na­tions and learn impor­tant life lessons.

Cre­at­ed by the Chil­dren’s Muse­um of Pitts­burgh in part­ner­ship with The Fred Rogers Com­pa­ny, the exhib­it is ground­ed in social-emo­tion­al learn­ing and is based on the award-win­ning PBS Kids tele­vi­sion series (cre­at­ed by The Fred Rogers Com­pa­ny) that fol­lows the adven­tures of 4‑year-old Daniel Tiger and his friends. The exhib­it opened on Jan­u­ary 19 and will remain at DCM through May 12.

Addi­tion­al­ly, first-time par­ents who select a DMG physi­cian for their infant(s) will receive a com­pli­men­ta­ry mem­ber­ship to DCM. To be eli­gi­ble, the infant(s) must be born between Jan­u­ary 1 and Sep­tem­ber 30, 2019. DMG pedi­a­tri­cians and fam­i­ly med­i­cine physi­cians will offer a mem­ber­ship appli­ca­tion to eli­gi­ble new par­ents dur­ing their infan­t’s first office vis­it. The mem­ber­ship will begin the day the fam­i­ly presents their appli­ca­tion to DCM and end the month their child reach­es 18 months.

“We’re excit­ed to offer this ben­e­fit to new par­ents,” said Dr. Scott Love, fam­i­ly med­i­cine physi­cian and chair of the DMG Fam­i­ly Med­i­cine depart­ment. ​“Not only does the part­ner­ship and com­pli­men­ta­ry first-time par­ent mem­ber­ship with DCM help us encour­age play time, but it also gives new par­ents an oppor­tu­ni­ty out­side of the home to laugh, learn and strength­en their bond with their lit­tle one and oth­er new parents.”

To plan your vis­it to DCM and learn more about ​“Daniel Tiger’s Neigh­bor­hood: A Grr-ific Exhib­it”, vis­it dupagechil​drens​.org.

If you’d like to sched­ule an appoint­ment with a DMG pedi­a­tri­cian or fam­i­ly med­i­cine physi­cian, vis­it DuPageMed​ical​Group​.com.

About DuPage Med­ical Group
Found­ed in 1999, DuPage Med­ical Group (DMG) is the largest inde­pen­dent, mul­ti-spe­cial­ty physi­cian group with more than 700 physi­cians in over 100 sub­ur­ban Chica­go loca­tions. DMG is a patient-cen­tered orga­ni­za­tion focused on improv­ing access to con­ve­nient, qual­i­ty health care using the lat­est tech­nol­o­gy and treat­ment options. For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it stag​ing​.dupagemed​ical​group​.pki​apps​.com.