My Connections to Play

Quote #1 “In our play we reveal what kind of people we are.” Ovid (Roman poet)

When I was younger I was really into doll babies and pretending to care for them and nurture them.  I pretended to be their mother and I took them everywhere with me.  Today I still have all nine of my doll babies in storage and will never get rid of them.  They are a BIG piece of my childhood.  I contribute my nurturing spirit and love of working with children to my childhood and playing with my dolls.  It gave me the chance to step into a motherly role and take what I observed from my own mother in caring for my dolls.  That same caring and nurturing personality carried over into adulthood and my career. 

 

Quote #2 “Always jump in the puddles! Always skip alongside the flowers.  They only fights worth fighting are the pillow and food varieties.” Terri Guillemets

Growing up I was also really into playing outdoors in the backyard.   I grew up in the country where we were surrounded by nothing but trees and there was a dirt path behind our house that led to the town’s baseball field.  My sister and I enjoyed attaching our red wagon to our bike and riding down the path, stopping to collect pine cones.  One day we even stopped to collect a baby turtle.  It was fun growing up during a time when playing outside was fun and where we could really use our imaginations. 

Today children are more engaged in playing video games after school and watching TV.  I admit I had a Nintendo growing up and watched Power Rangers every day after school, but it didn’t occupy a lot of my time.  I still went outside and played, rode my bike, jumped the ditch to go over my neighbors’ house to play basketball.  My parents encouraged my sister and me to play outside.  They signed us up for little league softball, my dad played basketball with us on weekends, and often times rode down the dirt path with us on his lawnmower.  Also, my parents knew how much I loved doll babies and being a nurturer so every Christmas they got me a doll, until I got to high schoolJ. It’s so important for parents to encourage creative play in their children and limit the amount of time they spend playing video games and sitting in front of the TV.  My hope for children today is that they will be more open to using their imaginations and not rely so heavily on the newest toy craze that they feel they must have.