My Connections to Play

           

I am in my backyard with my 3 sisters, a cousin and our neighbor. We are pretending to have a cook-out. My youngest sister is cooking at the stove because she is not “old enough” to help “pat out” the food. My cousin and I are making pies, and my other two sisters are making hamburgers and hotdogs (everything is made out of mud by the way)! And our friend is picking flowers out of the yard and setting up the picnic table. She also has to go to the outside water hose to fill all the cups up with water (real water, pretend kool-aid) to go with our food.

The one adult that would be invited would be my mom. She would be there to tell us how much of what ingredients we needed to make our pies. She would also be there to make just pretend with us and set up our radio to play music.

The play that children experience today is very different than my play in the 80’s. Children almost don’t know how to play; like it’s a pastime or something. They are more concerned with game systems, Facebook, Twitter and Keeping up with the Kardashians. They don’t know what it’s like to collect lightning bugs in a jar or play tag or have a water balloon fight. I think it’s very sad, especially when “School administrators, many parents, and most politicians believe play is a waste of time, off task behavior, needless coddling of young children, messy and noisy, unstructured and uneducational – an unaffordable luxury in an ever-more competitive world” (Wardle, 1987); when play for me was just as crucial as me sitting behind a desk listening to a teacher. It gave me an out! It helped me to take those math equations that the teacher just told me about and implement them in making my mud pies. I learned my fractions by making mud pies with my sisters at home!!! According to Wardle, “Children do not play for a reward-praise, money, or food. They play because they like it"(p. 28).  Its funny Mr. Wardle, we played for food…even if it was muddy!

As Walt Streightiff once said “There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million."

References

1.     Wardle, F. (1987). Getting back to the basics of children's play. Child Care Information Exchange, Sept., 27-30.

2.    Wardle, F. (n.d.). Play as curriculum. Retrieved August 1, 2010, from http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=127

3.    http://www.childrenquotes.com/waltstreightiff

Relationship Reflection

The relationships that have been the most influential in my life is that of my son and my “Papa Friday.” The birth of my son was not one in which I was prepared for, I was just 18 years old but his impact will last me the rest of my life. Our relationship didn’t start the moment I found out that I was pregnant at 17 but after a couple of months when I decided to “buckle down” and be a mom. I just didn’t want to be a mom but I wanted to be a “good mom.” From that point to this very day the key to our relationship has been communication. My son has helped me to grow and develop into the woman that I am today. He has told me about selflessness and patience. In return I hope to rear him into the direction of becoming a good man.

Another influential relationship that I have is that with a man who is known as my “Papa Friday.” I love this man as though he were my own father. He has been a blessing in my life. I have known him since I was 13 years old and I met him through Vacation Bible School that I went to with my neighbors. Growing up without an “active” dad in the picture he has taught me so much about growing as a young lady and being a parent. As stated in the Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) believes that for children and youth to be successful from birth through adolescence, there must be an array of learning supports around them” (2006). He has truly been one of those supports. He has taught me to change oil and change a tire (even though the first time he didn’t tell me that I had to keep the rim! He laughed at me for a couple of days. He always wanted me to know how to take care of myself. I really value this relationship because it fulfilled a void that I had and didn’t really know how desperately I needed it to be filled. The key to our relationship is communication as well. We talk on the phone or in person 4-5 times a week.

The way that both of these relationship experiences contribute to my work as an early childhood professional is that they have taught me patience, selflessness and to always have a since of humor. These are key factors in working with children. As the old African Proverb says “it takes a village to raise a child.”

References

Harvard Family Research Project. (n.d.). A profile of the evaluation of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers—national. Cambridge, MA: Author. Retrieved January 1, 2007, from http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/profile.

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/duneland/chesterton/it-takes-a-village-to-raise-a-child-old-african/article_c19bd62c-21bf-5c93-b243-bebe21074721.html