CONNECTIONS TO PLAY

“Necessity may be the mother of invention, but play is certainly the father.” ~ Roger von Oech

“The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things.” ~ Plato (Greek philosopher)

I found these quotes to be close to what I hold dearly when thinking of time spent playing as a child.  As a child I enjoyed playing, often by myself as I did not have any siblings when I was young and we lived in the country.  My play partners primarily consisted of my grandparents, my parents and an uncle.  Being an only child until the age of 8 gave me the opportunity to develop a real imagination and take part in imaginative play frequently.  I would dress us my paper dolls and sit quietly for hours emerged in a world with my dolls and the various outfits that I could come up with.  I enjoyed playing the care giver role and always wanted to take care of the babies.  

Living in the country also gave me an opportunity to spend a lot of time playing outside.  I would swing in my swing, ride my bike, bring my dolls outside to have tea parties and much more.  This made me feel closer to nature and I remember spending time after time just taking in the environment and being curious about the world around me.  When I was outside my mother would come out and play with me, sitting under my favorite pine tree.  Life seemed simple and not so rushed back then.  I would walk next door to my grandparents house daily and spend time playing in their house.  Having my family so close gave me a sense of security and belonging that was unique.  They would all stand around outside and watch me ride my inch worm, which I just loved.  As a child we did not have cable television so very little time was spent sitting in front of the t.v.  This allowed time for family and conversations which helped me to gain knowledge and figure out for myself how to do things.

Today's children spend far to much time sitting in front of the t.v from the time they are born.  Parents often use this to entertain their children as life is so busy, dinner must be made, laundry done, left over work from the day ect.  This is becoming a problem in many aspects of children's development from childhood obesity, lack of social development and exposure to violence just to name a few.  In my opinion children are not given adequate play opportunities and parents are not spending the needed time getting to get to truly know their child and building relationships.  As educators I believe it is our responsibility to remind parents of the importance of monitoring the violence in which their children are seeing on t.v.