My Connections to Play!

“Childhood should be carefee, playing in the sun; not living a nightmare in the darkness of the soul”. Dave Pelzer

“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere”.           Albert Einstein

(Child Making Mud-Pies) 

When I was a child, I enjoyed making mud-pies with my sister & cousins outside!  We would make sure the dirt was packed inside of the pans perfectly and was the proper consistency to mold.  We would add grass for seasoning and set it out in the sun to cook.  We used our imaginations and pretended that we were cooking real pies that we would sale, later that day.  I remember us trying to flag “pretend” cars down, to buy our pies.  My parents, aunt and/or grandparents, would buy our mud pies and pretend along with us by saying they were yummy! J

(Child Riding Bike)

  When I was a child, I also enjoyed riding my bike!  My grandparents lived down the road, and my sister and I were allowed to ride down to their house to visit.  I would go see them every day, when I got off the school bus.  I would imagine that I was driving a car, instead of bike, and sometimes I would pretend that I was driving the school bus.  My parents would get lots of laughs when I was correcting the students on my bus.  They supported outside play and allowed us to ride our bikes, as long as we came in before dinner. 

 Play Today vs. Yesterday….My Thoughts! J

When I was growing up, play was all about imagination and it took place outside! Neighborhood children played together and everyone felt safe.  The parents didn’t have a concern about anyone kidnapping their child and the children were able to freely ride bikes up and down the streets, without helmets or knee pads!  We didn’t want to come inside to play, because that was boring to us.  We wanted to be outside where we could “make-up” our activity.  We very rarely sat around and watched a lot of television.  Today, children are the opposite.  They want to be inside and they consume their day with television and video games.  Neighborhoods aren’t as safe as they used to be.  Parents aren’t allowing their children to stay outside, until dinner.  Parents have to be concerned about keeping a close eye on their children.  We felt that playing inside was boring.  Today, many children think that playing outside is boring, when they don’t have “anything to do”!  Today’s youth, don’t know how to “imagine”!  They don’t know how to “think outside the box”, without the resources in front of them!