My Connections to Play

These two quotes below sum up my childhood and how I feel about play in childhood. These quotes also appeal to me because they were both said by two people who I watched on TV as a child.  The first quote was said by Bill Cosby; The Cosby Show was one of the first shows that portrayed an African American family as educated, upper middle class and functioning happily. I have fond memories of my family and I sitting and watching it together.

The second quote was by Fred Rogers, someone who I watched on TV every day as a child. Mr. Rogers Neighborhood was a pioneer of children’s educational television. Back when there was no cable television, educational programming was scarce. Shows like Mr. Roger’s Neighbor hood and Sesame Street were staples in my childhood.

“The essence of childhood, of course, is play, which my friends and I did endlessly on streets that we reluctantly shared with traffic.”
Bill Cosby 
“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.”
Fred Rogers 

If I could imagine myself as a child, in a place by myself  with no cares or worries and the ability to play all day I would be on the beach. The only things I would need would be a bucket and shovel. I would dig in the sand all day and play in the ocean. I would dig holes and fill them with buckets of ocean water. I would not need any adult assistance in this situation. Just me and the outdoors.

When I was younger the person who most supported my efforts in play was my mother. She gave me the ability to play freely; to be loud, to make a mess and to explore. As long as I wasn’t doing anything dangerous, she allowed me to be free. Now as an adult I realize that was the best thing she could have done for me. I learned and expressed myself trough my play and she fostered that by giving me the freedom to do it.

As I parent my own daughter,  I try to remember how my mother allowed me to play and do the same for my daughter. Now a days people believe that teacher based instruction is the primary way that children learn. There are formal instructional kits teaching infants how to read and teaching preschoolers how to teach foreign languages. I think parents are afraid to just let there children play freely for fear that they won’t be as smart or able to keep up with the next child.

I hope that as I continue to raise my own daughter, I reflect upon my own childhood and allow my child to play the way I did.