“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow
old because we stop playing.”
George Bernard Shaw
As a young child, I would play outside
until it was dark. We used to see how
many “lighting bugs” we could catch and put in a jar. It didn’t matter what we played. Sometimes it was kick ball or a made up game.
Our yard was the yard neighborhood
children played in most of the time.
Every now and then I would see my mother looking out of the window. It gave me a sense of security knowing she was
there. My parents encouraged play by
providing us with outdoor equipment such as bikes, balls, jump ropes, etc.
My best friend and I would lie on the
grass for hours looking at the clouds and guessing what they looked like. We would
talk about what we would be when we grew up.
Play was so easy when I was
young. There was no long conversation
about what we would do. I sometimes hear
children say they are bored. When I was
young, we were never bored. We were able
to use our imaginations to think of things to do and create the rules as we
went along. Children rely too much on external things such as television to
keep them occupied.
As an adult, I love to see children
lost in play. It reminds me of a less
stressful, easier time when I could express ideas and be anything or anyone I
wanted to be.
As adults, we can learn a lot from children and how they play.
“You can discover more about a person in an hour of
play than in a year of conversation."
Plato
Oh my goodness, I forgot all about catching lightening bugs. Remembering that just makes me laugh because when I first saw them i thought they were going to bite me and we would run like crazy. But once we knew differently we would catch them to see them light in our hands then let them go. Good times, great memeories. I too don't understand when children today say they are bored. Whne my children tell me that I tell them to go outside and play or read a book and they look at me like I am talking a different language. But I know all they want is to so to a mall. And it does not work.
ReplyDeleteI love that your family yard was where everyone played. It is amazing that young, you recognized the secure attachment you had with your mother, the assurance that she was watching out the window. Your experiences show that relationships are key to child development.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that you had an awesome childhood! I, too, waited for the dark to catch lightening bugs! I would take their lights and place them on my nose in effort of mimicking a nose ring. Gross! Children these days are so detached from nature and the freedom to explore it. Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I enjoyed your blog! :o)
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