Quotes on children playing:
Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning.
Fred Rogers: American television personality. Retrieved: Nov. 18, 2011.
A child loves his play, not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard.
Benjamin Spock: American pediatrician. Retrieved: Nov. 18,2011.
As a child I loved to play with dolls and I loved to pretend to teach. I would curl my dolls hair with an old curling iron that my mom gave me. My grandmom would watch me sit for hours playing with tea sets, curling irons, and drawing. I had a standard size chalkboard in my bedroom and my mom said I would go in my room and line all my dolls on my bed and teach. She said that one day I kept walking in and out of my room slamming the door. She asked me why I was doing that and I told her that’s what my teacher did when she wanted us to listen.lol
I loved to color and draw. This was something that I found relaxing. I would sit and color and watch tv or lie on the floor and try to figure out how to draw certain pictures. My daughter loves to draw now and she is so much better at it than I ever was.
My family didn’t have much money when I was growing up but they always allowed and encouraged me to play. I had lots of cousins around and we were all supposed to play and share together. We would play tv shows. They loved to play Batman and Robin or The Dukes of Hazard (they liked the car).
Children today don’t play outside as much as we did. With all of the technology they tend to stay inside. My children love to ride their bikes or go for walks but to be honest; with the hustle and bustle of everything it’s hard to always get them out there. That’s another tough situation…parents have to work or want to work more and they don’t plan for or can’t make time for children to do outside activities.
Role play for me was important because it gave me a chance to express myself and relax. I think that children need the opportunity to release stress, learn how to express themselves, and enjoy time that is not always structured by adults. This is an important way for them to figure things out and learn by what they have seen.
I would hope that children are given safe opportunities to play, grow and learn. I know that there are many children who live in situations where it isn’t safe to play outside. I would hope that these parents would make inside play fun and enjoyable for those children. All children deserve the right to run, exercise, think, and have fun. They have to grow up so quick. As adults I think that we should make it our goal to make this happen.
DeWana,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing such wonderful childhood memories of your play time. I was raised in a family of six siblings and some our greatest memories around play were without store bought toys. We had two bikes which we shared and anytime anyone of us received a gift we’d share that as well. I remember getting a bake oven and we all had a blast trying to bake this tiny little cake. What is funny is that we cut it into 6 small pieces so that we could all try it and which was awesome but once the mix was gone we did not have money to buy more so the oven was used for pretend play. What developed was a life time of great memories I have from playing and bonding with my siblings from our many outdoor adventures that I feel this generation is missing out. Susana
DeWana,
ReplyDeleteSomething tells me if we had grown up together on the same street we might have been friends. I'm not sure who would have won the role as teacher. :) The Mr. Rogers quote is one of my favorites by him. I too had a chalk board that I loved. I have some in my classroom and the children go crazy for them but it's because we have gone to dry erase markers on everything. The chalk keeps it interesting. You have the door story and I had the teacher who never let you go to the bathroom. My poor sister use to be my student and I never let her go, she'd tell you. We were at home she could have gone. lol It just goes to show teachers are born not made. I would agree with the hustle and bustle of busy lives I've babysat for many families like that. If it weren't for me helping to taxi their children I'm pretty sure one would have been left somewhere. Often times they could have been having just as much fun being at home riding their bikes, but that will not get them into the Baseball Hall of Fame or on So You Think You Can Dance. Technology doesn't help us today either. I grew up without cable and I still don't like it, but it seems to be consuming the minds of children. My husband will tell you I think it's the devil. It's just aggravating to have a child tell you the order his afternoon cartoons come on and nothing else. Like you, however, I also played things from TV shows. So, I guess maybe TV although rotten as it may be guided some of our play. We just have to keep our children's bodies active, so their minds can stay healthy too.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Ginny
DeWana,
ReplyDeleteI think that it is funny how many of us played teacher as children. I think that the role playing I did as a child helped me make connections and understand things that, as a child, were not always easy to comprehend. I like to use role playing in the classroom as well. I enjoyed reading your post and I can relate to many of the things that you spoke about. My children are not allowed to sit idle in front of the television for hours on end because I feel that they learn more from going outside and playing.