― Ralph Waldo Emerson
My childhood may be over, but that doesn’t mean playtime is. Ron Olson
My parents supported my play by making sure my brother and I had all the "newest and coolest" toys out there. We were not allowed to have video games until we were 10. When we were much smaller we would always be outside playing sports with each other and my two cousins. We also all collected beanie babies and would pretend to talk to each other through them. My parents supported us because they never really interrupted us and let us do what we wanted without us getting hurt, obviously. We werent trouble makers anyways, so they didnt really have to worry about us doing anything dumb.
I feel like when I was a kid I would pretend to be all these different things, like the power rangers, or mickey mouse, and other stuff. I feel like pretend play doesnt happen as often at the child care center I work at. I always see the kids playing with the balls and stuff but usually someone gets hurt or a teacher interjects on what they are doing so they never get to explore the imaginary world. I love watching my students in my class pretend to be things. They are only two, so their imagination can only go so far with what they know. I love watching them pretend to go shopping, or be on a "important phone call", or be on an airplane or train. It is so cute, and reminds me of when I was little and what I was really interested in.
I can only hope that this generation of kids have as good a time with playing and their imagination then I did because my childhood was awesome and I would love to go back and just be a kid again, it's so simple and makes you look at life a whole different way.
Hi Jamie,
ReplyDeleteIt is great to know that there are parents who are aware of the impact of technology games on young children.
I agree that the majority of day care centers provide little opportunities to fostering imagination. Teachers encouragement for these kinds of play is very essential for the development of young children.
I loved the Ron Olson quote. I love to play when I have time and to lighten the mood, but only with certain people. Going outside after school was so important to me. I hated when I had so much homework that I couldn't go play. I would have to be on the bus the next morning listening to my friends talk about how much fun they had the day before playing. I could only go outside, talk o the phone or watch television when all of my homework was done.
ReplyDeleteHey Jamie,
ReplyDeleteNow you know I absolutely loved this quote "My childhood may be over, but that doesn’t mean playtime is". My childhood is definitely over but I still have playtime all the time. Football was the sport in my family. 8 girls 3 boys we couldn't do tackle all the time so we did 1,2,3 hold. It was indeed fun. I still love football and I'm getting excited right now cause football season is almost here...lol... Thanks for sharing...