My Connections to Play

The two quotes that I feel represent what play was like for me as a child are-“At the end of the day, your feet should be dirty, your hair messy and your eyes sparkling”, by Shanta, and “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning, but for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood”, by Fred Rogers. The first quote was so me and my brothers when I was growing up. I am the oldest of three and the only girl. After we would get our work done in the house, my mom would allow for us to go outside and just play. We had certain boundaries like not to go off the block, not to go into someone’s house without asking my mom or dad first, and not to run in and out of the doors. Of course those changed as we got older, but we would, as my mom would say, “smell like billy-goats” when we came back in from playing so hard and long. Talk about sleeping good! After a bath or a shower and a snack, it was over!

What Dr. Rogers said about play is true for this day and age, not when I was young. I never remember being stressed in preschool, kindergarten and on; I loved to go to school and learning was fun. I don’t remember us sitting around at our desks trying to fill out a sheet of paper to prove I can write, spell, add and subtract. The teachers were able to make their classrooms their own and you could tell those that really loved what they did, and those that did not. Our recess was at least 30 minutes and we always had time to play before and after school. So play wasn’t a relief from serious work, it was always prevalent in our day to day.

The adults on our block supported play by being  a “community”, keeping an eye on all of the children on the block as they played; coming outside to check on us, bring us water, opening up their fenced backyards so that we cold play in groups. It was really nice. The fear that someone was going to snatch you up wasn’t there because we knew, and feared sometimes that we were being constantly monitored. We played in tress, hanging upside down, made mud pies (sometimes ate them), rode on big wheels and skateboards, and just explored our very surroundings.

Some of the toys that I use to play with were pogo sticks, bikes, dolls, big wheels, all types of balls played with friends or just family, boom boxes, my moms clothes and my daddy’s shoes…nature in all aspects. We played with bugs and dared friends to eat them and sometimes, we even made houses for them. Albert Einstein said, “Play is the highest form of research.”

Today doesn’t even come close to the way that children played in the past. Children are being forced to participate in activities that they are not interested in so that the parents, or another adult, has control over what and how the children respond and interact, versus children asking friends to come outside to the middle of the street to play kick ball or tag football. Children do not just come upon things and wonder about what it is and why as much. TV and video games already have fantasy worlds made up for children so imagination fades. Children are now bystanders in their learning instead of being an active participant in it.