Quotes!
“This is the real secret of life—to be completely engaged
with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work,
realize it is play.”
-Alan Wilson Watts
“The boy planted his hands on his hips and a broad smile lit
his face. “My name’s Peter, Can I play too?”
-Brom, The child Thief
“Dance. Dance for the joy and breath of childhood. Dance for
all children, including that child who is still somewhere entombed beneath the
responsibility and skepticism of adulthood.
Embrace the moment before it escapes form our grasp. For the only
promise of childhood, of any childhood, is that someday it will end. And in the
end, we must ask ourselves what we have given our children to take its place.
And is it enough?”
-Richard Paul Evans
Essential Play Items for my Younger Self!
A watering can for daily gardening!
Hills, trees, rocks, creeks, flowers, and bugs!
Rope swings (both then and NOW
Play was definitely considered the “work” of children when I
was growing up. I remember my nursery school and kindergarten where I learned
to socialize with children outside my family. The classrooms were large with
dramatic play, block, and art areas for my classmates and I to explore and
develop at our own pace. The playgrounds were filled with tricycles, wagons,
and balls for hours of play and physical activity. When I wasn’t in school, I was riding my bike
to the creek at the end of our street. I loved catching tadpoles and skipping
rocks with my siblings and friends. We also spent hours at the neighborhood
pool and in the schoolyard behind our house. I remember only going home to eat
and get a hug from my mother before heading back out for another adventure. I
loved playing “teacher” and my father built a big playhouse in our backyard
where I pretended to teach neighborhood preschoolers. We planted seeds in the
garden and took neighborhood nature walks together. I had pet ducks and enjoyed
watching their eggs hatch and helping to care for the ducklings. The days
seemed to go on forever and I never remember feeling any kind of pressure or
stress.
Unfortunately, I believe play
has changed a lot sense I was a child. Today, early literacy and math
curriculum have taken the place of creativity and imaginative play in many
early childhood classrooms. Teachers feel pressured to prepare children for
standardized assessments and are finding it difficult to schedule play into
their lesson plans. Also, parents don’t feel safe giving their children the
freedom to play outside unsupervised. There seems to be a need to plan playtime
for children. We didn’t need play-dates when I was a child. We simply met
outside and decided what we wanted to do together. If we couldn’t agree on what
to play, we would chant “eeny-meeny-miny-moe” until an activity was chosen. We
never needed adults to intervene. Many children are also over-scheduled today
with several organized and competitive activities because their parents have
been led to believe it is beneficial to receive a “head-start” preparing for
their futures. And sadly, when children do have free time, it is often in front
of televisions, computers, and video games.
My hope for children today is
that parents, politicians, school administrators, and educators will begin
taking the advice of early childhood professionals who’s research has proven
that play is essential to development and contributes to the optimal cognitive,
physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth. (Ginsburg,
2007) Almon explains that children are born with an amazing urge to grow and
learn. In developmentally appropriate settings, children set the pace for
development with support from caring adults. As adults, we need to step back
and honor the innate capacity for learning that “moves the limbs and fills the
souls of every healthy young child.”(Almon, n.d.p. 3)
Let them PLAY!
References
Almon, J. (n.d.) The vital role of play in early childhood
education: 1-35
Ginsburg, K. (2007) The importance of play in promoting
healthy child development
and maintaining strong parent-child
bonds, The American Academy of
Pediatricians Vol. 119 No. 1
