My Connections to Play

“Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity.” Kay Redfield Jamison

“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.” O. Fred Donaldson

   

My mother was certainly an advocate for childhood play and she played a major role in my development with regards to play since I was her only child. She supported me in the area of play by establishing an environment where I could play freely and she offered me the tools necessary to play. In my childhood room, my mother and I would play dress up, have pretend tea parties, and line my stuff animal up so I could play school. I would read books to my mother and she would read books to me. We would play hide the block and she would tell me hot if I would close to finding the block or cold if I was nowhere near the block’s location. My cousins and other neighborhood children would often come to my house and play outdoors in my yard. Play during my childhood year occurred outside more than now. As a friend, I would play hopscotch, volley ball, bade mitten, jump rope, climb tree etc. I find that children in this day and age like to play computer games, video games, watch TV or movies. I find that children now are not as physically engaged in the various forms play activities in general. I am inspired when I see more children involved in little leagues and team like sports/ play activities. As a child play was very important to me especially as an only child. I was able to develop my social skills, and I truly enjoyed using my imagination as well. That is one of the areas of play I wish my son was able to enjoy. Since he has a developmental delay and speech delay he does not engage in pretend play as other children his age do. I find that this was most important for me developmental, because it allowed me to interpret how things were going on in my world in a fun, but meaningful way.