My Connections to Play

These two quotes represent what play was to me as child growing up and still represent my ideas of play as the adult that I am. I believe that play comes from curiosity and from that curiosity comes imagination and exploration, which is why I chose the first quote. I can just imagine myself as a young child discovering something and poking at it with a stick and then coming up with all kinds of crazy ideas as to what the unidentified object was. I chose the second quote as a representation of play because I agree with it wholeheartedly. Play should be something that occurs everyday when you are a child and when you are an adult. When I was a child I could not wait to be done with school so that I could go home and play and even now as an adult I still cannot wait to get home from work so that I can play with my children.

These three items were essential play items to me as a child growing up. I grew up with four siblings, in the middle of nowhere (35 minute drive to the city) so our days were spent riding around on our bikes exploring everything that southern Arizona had to offer us. We had 5 acres of land at our home but our parents allowed us to ride our bicycles down to the watering hole and back (about 1.5 miles) and on those bike rides my siblings and I would imagine adventures and storylines of monsters, bad guys, good guys, superheros and more. Then when the sun went down and it was time to go inside, my sisters and I had a huge collection of Barbie dolls that we would play with together, my brother even joined in sometimes (one boy and four girls poor guy). These things were essential to my play growing up. 

How is play different now and my hopes for young today...

Play today is different from play when I was growing up because parenting has changed and technological advancements have taken over. When I was a child my parents would let us roam the streets (in my case desert backroads) all day and simply expect us home at sunset for dinner (we would even drink from the water hose instead of go inside). However, parenting styles have changed and parents are more strict on the activities their children do, places they go and time they are allowed to be outside. Technology has also played a huge role in the change of play because now children are more into playing video games or on the tablets/computers instead of going outside and playing. Technology has also taken away some of the imagination and critical thinking needed for play. For example when I was a child we played with Barbie dolls and we imagined jobs for them, families, homes and took them on adventures; where now the computer of video game does half the work for you. 

I know that the way I parent my children is very different from the way I was parented. However, I try to encourage my children to be more active outdoors and away from the technology and to also use their creativity and imaginations to play. I know that having to create worlds and stories as a child really helped my critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity skills as an adult, and I want my children to also be able to develop these skills through play. I hope that parents realize the importance of play for their children and encourage them to get off the couch and out of the desk and go play with peers, siblings or independently. Play embraces all areas of development and is essential to children's growth and success and it is my hope that all children have the opportunities to play every single day.