My Connections to Play

 Growing up, play was a major part of my life.  I must have heard “go play” a million times from my parents.  They supported my play by allowing me to have ample time to explore the world around me.  There weren’t rules for everything.  My parent’s only rules were to ask permission to leave the yard and to tell them where I was going, be home by dark, and not to burn the house down.  Other than that, I had the freedom to play as my heart desired.  My family didn’t have much money so I didn’t have a whole lot of toys.  My parents understood that children do not need a lot of “stuff” in order to play.  If I wanted to use something from around the house, I could.  If I wanted to get dirty, I could.  I had the freedom to just do, as long as I wasn’t going to get hurt. 

For me, play was my outlet.  I could be anyone and do anything.  I was free in my own little world.  Play opened up my creativity and became my stress relief and my companion.  Everything felt right in the world when I was playing.

Play today seems to have taken on a much different tone.  Where my play was more carefree, today play seems a lot more serious.  Sometimes play even looks like work to some children.  There also seems to be a rule for everything.  Do this, don’t do this, use this like this, etc.  Children aren’t allowed to just explore freely anymore. 

Society has changed a great deal from what it was when I was little.  I remember being able to go outside and roam the neighborhood without ever worrying about something bad happening.  Now children are exposed to “bad things” even in their own front yard!  The freedom to go and explore has been taken away.

When I think about my vision of play for my children, I want them to be able to enjoy their youth.  I don’t want their actions to be filled with a bunch of rules and regulations.  I want play to be fun for them.  I want them to enjoy playing with their friends and manipulating the world around them.  I want play for my children to be as important as it was for me.  I want them to feel free to explore their world and learn in the process.

Looking back on my life from my childhood until now in terms of play and its role, I realize that play continues to be my outlet for creativity as well as stress relief.  I am not afraid to admit that I still enjoy doing art, playing with play dough, dressing up, and building things.  I hope that play continues to be an important part of my life through my adulthood because I feel like it keeps me young at heart.  Play isn’t just important for children but adults as well!

 

"Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon.  A happiness weapon.  A beauty bomb.  And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one.  It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air.  Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas.  And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight.  Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in.  With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest.  And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination." 

~Robert Fulghum

"Some things can only be understood when you're in a tree house.  With a pile of warm chocolate chip cookies.  And a book." 

~Dr. SunWolf

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."
~Plato