My Connections to Play

"Children do not play for a reward-praise, money, or food. They play because they like it."  Francis Wardle, Ph.D.

“Play is children’s work.”  Miquela Rivera

I was a very imaginative child growing up. My twin sister (Kat) and I were very shy, and pretty much inseparable, and though we had friends, our preference was to play just the two of us until we reached grade school. Though we preferred our own company, Mom ensured that we played with neighborhood kids as well, and when we started school, my parents insisted we be in different classes, so we could make our own friends and not become too dependent on each other. Both my parents were always very supportive of my imaginative play. I still remember Dad bringing home large cardboard boxes from the jobsites, and Mom would help Kat and I build blanket and pillow forts. Using cardboard boxes and forts, Kat and I pretended we were different types of dinosaurs and wild animals. In the process of these interests, we learned much about animals, as this led to watching the discovery channel. Kat and I spent a lot of time playing outside, finding snakes and bugs to put in Mom’s canning jars, and chasing each other with sticks of slime from the swampy forest behind the house (hence the picture of algae). Dad made us wooden toolboxes so we could “build” stuff with him down in his shop. Through my pretend play, I experimented with creating things from Legos or blocks and practiced using tools (no power tools until I was in about the 4th, and only with supervision). In place of Saturday morning cartoons, I watched “This Old House” and “New Yankee Workshop” with my dad, as well as quite possibly every documentary created about the building of the Grand Coulee and Hoover Dams. T.V. did not take up a lot of my playtime, as Mom believed we should be outside playing. Or inside playing. Really, just anywhere but in front of the T.V.

Because of my experiences in play, I feel a deep sadness about many of the children I see at the school I work at. Where I was fortunate enough to live “in the sticks” while growing up (and have every intention of my future children doing the same), where there were trees to climb, bugs to catch, and slimy green algae to chase other kids with, many kids today do not have opportunities to play in the great outdoors. I see children’s pretend play centers around video games they play, instead of out of their own imagination. My staff and I work hard to incorporate items into the choice time area that push towards imagination, requiring students to build and create- and they love it! I feel that children today still have the same need for play that I did when I was a child, however their options are often very different. This may be because I work in a school that is in the middle of a city, as opposed to my childhood school that was in a rural area. Regardless of community, there is still a lot more technology available to children, and it has an impact on their play. While technology is not a bad thing, it must be allowed in moderation, so children still just play.

Play is an important learning tool for children. Through play, children enjoy experimenting, discovering, and imagining. Play is the foundation for many skills and characteristics to evolve that will last a lifetime: intrinsic motivation to learn, social skills to build relationships and work with others, and discover new interests passions.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships and partnerships are important because we, as humans, are not made to be solitary creatures. We learn and grow by taking our cues from those that are important in our lives. Healthy relationships are a delicate balance of give-and-take. I have learned that it takes both people in a healthy relationship to give and receive. Relationships where one person does all the work will eventually lead to a breakdown of trust and a build-up of resentment, whether it is consciously or unconsciously felt. Relationships and partnerships take work. There will be times when energy or commitment may flag, but the important this is through commitment from all sides, the partnership or relationship come out on the other end whole. Recognizing that it does take effort and commitment to build and maintain healthy relationships and partnerships helps me in the Early Childhood field as I recognize the importance of interweaving relationships with a variety of professionals and family members in order to fully meet the needs of each individual child.

James

My fiancé and I support each other’s careers and both strive to expand our education. It was James that gave me the confidence I needed to see I could handle going back to school while working full time. I have supported him, in turn, taking his classes and going out of state for work. We have kept positive attitudes during this recession, as construction (his profession) has tanked, and will come out on the other side together. We also push each other to try new things. We look for things to do together (we recently took up snowshoeing) as well as respect that we need time for ourselves every once in a while. “True love” isn’t like the fairy tales- it isn’t all happiness and bliss every step of the way. A relationship takes work sometimes, and a lot of that give-and-take. Like my mother says, “Your love is not someone you can live with, but someone you can’t live without”.

Mom

Of course, one of the most important relationships in my life is with my mom. She has taught me that her children are NOT perfect, and she is well aware of it, and that though she will always love her children, sometimes we are hard to like. Now I know at first this sounds terrible, but the ways she has taught me these things isn’t quite as it initially sounds. My mom is an amazing woman. She taught us that we weren’t perfect, but we could do anything we could set our minds and hearts to. Had she taught us we were perfect, she would have created children who thought they were entitled, and without ambition. She always has made sure we know she loves us. But unconditional love is different than liking someone. To be liked, and to be able to like someone, people need to think of how their actions affect others. She has taught me honesty, respect, responsibility, and what it is to create and maintain meaningful relationships.

Kat

My twin sister and I have always been extremely close. In college we drove one of our professors nuts, as we would finish each other’s sentences, carry on two conversations at once (in a way only we knew what both of them were about, and left conversations half-finished because there was no need to finish them. Even when she got married and moved an hour and a half away, we have kept conversations going almost daily. She is someone I can talk to about any type of problem, and she can tell if I need advice, reassurance, or just need to vent, and she can do the same with me. Our honesty with each other means we call each other out on faults and biases, and look at things with a different perspective, as she is very big-hearted, creative, and by her admission, flakey, while I am more of a Type A personality and very practical. We balance each other out, and it works wonderfully.

Elza and Teresa

In my current position as a special education teacher in a K-6 Functional Academics program, I rely heavily on the positive relationships I have with my paraeducators. We work together as a team to meet the wide variety of needs and abilities that walk through our classroom door. In working closely together, we share our insights about our students, as well as problem solving and supporting each other through ordeals in our personal life. We recognize our own strengths and challenges as well as those of each other, and help each other use our strengths to build relationships with our students so we can give them our best every day