My
Connection to Play
“Play gives
children a chance to practice what they are learning”
Fred Rogers (1928-2003)
“Children need
the freedom and time to play. Play is
not luxury. Play is a necessity.”
Kay Redfield Jamison
My earliest memories as a child playing was swinging on a
tire that was tied to an old oak tree in my parents’ back yard. I remember swinging on the tire for hours at
a time. My parents live on an Island,
located 40 miles outside of Charleston, SC called Edisto Island, so as you can
imagine my siblings and I spent endless hours at the beach especially during
the summer months. I also enjoyed
playing football with my brothers and cousins who lived nearby.
During the summer months, my
aunt who watched my siblings and I, while my mom was at work literally put us
outside right after breakfast in the morning and were only allowed to go inside
to use the restroom or to have lunch. We
stayed outside and played all day until it was time for dinner at which time we
were called in to wash up and have dinner, afterwards maybe watch TV together
as a family and then bedtime. Play
played an important role in as a child, it taught me how to share, and it
helped me develop emotionally and physically as well as mentally. I pretended
to fly away to far imaginary places and as an adult I love to travel to
different parts of the world.
Children today, don’t play
outside like they use too; due to the wave of new technology they don’t get the
benefits of the fresh outdoors or physical activity. Instead they prefer to stay indoors and play
games on their computers or iPad.
Sandra,
ReplyDeleteYou are so right about the kids today, they don't want to go outside and play because I have a son and all he want to do is sit in front of his television and play games all day long. I tell him he need to let that game go and mingle on the outside with other children, it be hard but he will go outside for a couple of hours just to satisfy his mother...LOL
I can see many of us having the similar kinds of games when we were young - playing sticks, playing swings, playing slide, playing rope etc. Maybe we all are having same background or generation. With the world advanced more, different types of games and toys are developed. Our children have much more choices in games and play. However, they are not as enriched and as natural as ours. I still love the games and plays we had when we were young.
ReplyDeleteComputer games and electronic games are affecting all our young children now. That is the trend we cannot avoid and stop. We have to just make sure how to balance it. But one thing we have to make sure our young children do have opportunity to play outside.