“Play gives children a chance to practice what
they are learning.”
-Mr. Rogers
“We are never more fully alive, more
completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are
playing.”
-Charles Schaefer
When I was a child I remember being surrounded
by all kinds of toys, but the three pictures I posted were my favorite! I was
very fortunate as a child to have many adults to support my play. My parents
were my biggest supporters. My mother was a stay at home mom and spent her days
with my brother, sister and I. She took us to the playground and library and
spent time playing at home with us. My father, even though he worked full time, always found time to play with us. I can remember whenever he came home from
work my brother, sister, and I would run over to him and ask him to play with
us. He always joined in our play no matter how long of a day or how tired he
was.
Today as I visit families at their homes and
have families join in play in my classroom I am disappointed by the
interactions. I find a lot of the time in the home there is a piece of
technology the child is using or the parent is not joining in with their child’s
play. From my own personal observations play has been centered around
technology or a parent wanting their child to know their 1,2,3’s or A,B,C’s. I
hope to see play at home to go back to the way it was when I was a child. A
child’s playroom is one of the greatest learning environments! (I know mine
was!)
Throughout my
life play was an opportunity for me to express myself. It ranged from acting
out school and playing teacher, to dressing up my dolls, to making up a new game
with my brother and sister. As I learn about play now as an adult I see the
vital importance of the early experiences of play and why the play in my
childhood was so important!
It looks you have a good play time with your parent, sisters, and brothers and it is true the picture of play before is totally different form todays picture. Today parent they are not joint their children, As you said play has been centered around technology or a parent wanting, the parent should know the benefit of play to the child development.
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI could relate to so much of your post about the way you played as a child! I agree that the more interaction children have with others when they are playing, the more meaningful their experience is. Something I have always admired about one of the teachers I had in an internship was that at the end of the day when her students were in free choice centers, she stopped whatever she was doing and played with the students. I have always admired the fact that she was able to put her teacher work down for 15 minutes and completely focus on playing and bonding with her students.