My connections to Play

Here are two quotes that represent play in my childhood

 

 

Play was first and foremost supported by my parents. When I think back on my childhood I primarily think of home life and of playing with my sisters. MY parents taught us structure and responsibility with age appropriate chores however the majority of our time was spent playing. I recall my mom often saying in frustration when we were bothering her as children tend to do "Y'all just need to go outside and play!" She understood that all of our energy needed to be redirected into a positive and productive manner and play was that forum. My parents also understood the importance of play when ti occurs outdoors. We were often encourage to take our play outside. We were given dedicated play spaces in our home including the basement and backyard. Both were large open spaces that allowed for easy movement, creativity, and big messes! In my childhood play was an outlet for energy,creativity, development of mental and social skills and was fun.

Important play equipment from my childhood:

Play often looks different today than it did in my childhood for a couple of reasons. The first is that my generation was on of the first to have general accessibility to gaming consoles. While children enjoyed playing them from time to time they also found great pleasure in joining their friends outside for a game of hid and go seek or tag. In many cases today children will prefer to staff indoors and play a video game alone or with a friend than go outside and play wit ha large group of friends. The next significant difference is the type of play that child engage in. Play is much more supervised by adults this interferes with play in a couple of ways. The first is that children have to wait for the adult to coordinate play time weather that means a trip to the local park or coordinating with another parent for a play date. This limits the amount of play, when it occurs and the type of play. Next, when play is supervised, adults directly or indirectly interfere with the choices children make. If an adult is present a child make take fewer risks that would have helped to develop social, physical or cognitive skills. Children are more likely to run to the adults for help to solve any problems including conflict with peers rather than find a way to work through the issue and adults rarely give child the opportunity to do this on their own. Finally, when adults are supervising or coordinating play events inherently a child's selection of who to play with is influenced. If the parents of two children enjoy each others company they are more likely to provide more opportunities for those particular children to get together. There are fewer opportunities for child to go out to play and meet up with other children in the neighborhood and make social decisions independently from a larger selection of play mates.


The role of play was crucial in my childhood and really helped to prepare my for adolescence and adulthood. I learned how to get along and how to politely decline interacting with someone who I wasn't interested in engaging socially with. I learned my personal limits as well as athletic skills. My confidence and self esteem were supported by play. All of this experiences, skills, and social emotional awareness are called upon daily while navigating adult relationships and interactions in my person and professional life.