My Connections to Play
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken
men.”-Frederick Douglass
“Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me
and I understand.”-Chinese proverb
Both of these quotes are very important to me. I grew up in a family that toys were bought
out of guilt. My father was in the
military and showered my siblings and I with gifts as much as he could because
he was absent from time to time because of his military obligations. My mother was a great mother who let my
sister and I play with great imagination.
My greatest memory was one that my mother made us a play house using a
sheet outside over the clothes line. We
brought out our two rocking chairs and babies pretending to be mommies. At the time we did not know we were imitating
our mother we just wanted to play house.
Attached below are just a few of the items that I played
with daily when I was younger. I did not
go anywhere without my cabbage patch doll.
I find that most of our children are now into electronics. Just as I was grocery shopping today; a
mother was allowing her child to watch a show on her phone. Do not get me wrong I have done this before
as well to keep my child occupied while I shop.
But let’s face it our children are more interested in technology than to
actual play.
As a parent I have always had my children involved in a
sport or something active in play. We
love to play outside and my kids are into board games at this moment. These activities are familiar to me as I was
a child that was into board games and outside play; for example I loved jumping
on the trampoline. As my dad used to
say,”Work hard, play hard!”.
