MY CONNECTIONS TO PLAY

One of the reasons I chose the field of early childhood is to continuously have contact with children of this age and get their touch of freedom and innocence. They are filled with “freedom”,freedom to speak, laugh, jump, climb, run and swim. As a child I had so much fun playing. I was the last child and my immediate elder brother was 7 years older than me. My play mates were mainly children of my age group in my community. Play was part of our daily activity and almost every night, we would go to the village square for moonlight play. Exceptions are rainy or very dark nights.                                                 

                                                                               

 Pretend play was a great part of my childhood and in my culture we use a lot of beads in dressing. During play we usually make ours with combination of plants mixed with sand and it used to be very beautiful and adults are often amazed at the unique designs we usually form out of these. This groomed me personally to believe in my abilities. I will always play the “director” role which has turned me into the teacher that I am today. “You can't stop the future, you can't rewind the past, the only way to learn the secret is to play.” ― Jay Asher .

 

Social play like “oga”, “ kuoronu nwangwele aka” and  onye na onye”  were always an introductory play for us. We usually choose our team members and it was exciting seeing people fighting to choose me as part of their group. I learnt as a child during play that I am special before becoming adult which gave me a positive mind-set in life

 Another play that was part of my childhood was playing under the rain. Once the weather is changing, we are also getting ready to play outside by changing our cloths to wear a short or nicker for free movement under the rain. It used to be even more exciting during dry season, we would go to the stream to swim and play with water. It was so much fun and I still cherish the moments and wished I can go back.

 

 

The adults around us supported us to play. When our mother wanted us to give her chance to attend to personal things or to visitors, , she would simply ask us to go to the village square and play but today most parents will ask their children to go to their room and play. Play today has shifted from free play to confined play using video games and internet games. I often wish that today’s children will experience what I had. Today’s children are no longer allowed to go out for an unsupervised play due to security reasons. I practically learnt how to live through play. I learnt to manage and collaborate with people through play while building my sense of belonging as well. Recently, I encountered a grade 2 child that did not go for break and when I asked him why he was not playing with other children, he told me that these other children are playing because they are not serious with their studies and that his mother instructed him not to play............... I sincerely felt for him and hoped that such ignorant parents can be informed because access to talent is through play. “We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves or more deeply engrossed in anything, than when we are at play.”  Charles Schaefer

Play is very important for children and also adults. We are indeed blessed to be in this field as it gives us opportunity to play with children. I play a lot with children and it makes my life interesting. Keep playing; it is healthy even as adults. Have a great weekend with this last quote that reminds me of my play life as a child     “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.