My Connection to
Play
“The true object of
all human life is play”. - G. K. Chesterton
“The opposite of play
is not work. It’s depression.” – Brian Sutton-Smith
People around me supported my play by providing me with
opportunities of discovery. My mother worked two jobs and went to college, so
my grandmother was my primary caregiver. My parents divorced when I was two,
which turned out to be a mental challenge for me starting about age 12. I had a
sister and a few cousins that I was raised with. We use to take bike rides in
the neighborhood and came home before the street lights came on. Children
feared their parents back then verses the children of today.
As a child, I remember being told to go out to
the garden and pick fruit and vegetables. I was intrigued with my environment.
I loved to find four leaved clovers, making mud pies and sliding on cardboard
under the bridge and most of all laying back in the grass soaking up the sun.
Back then, children utilized their free time by being creative; finding new
discoveries. Today, free time is taken up with television, the radio and video
games. Times have changed, but play needs to be renounced with the help of
teachers and parents for the good of all children.
Educators and parents need to allow children enough playtime
or free time so they can learn themselves and the world around them.
