My Connections to Play

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” Plato

 

When I think back to my childhood the sand box is one of the my first memories of playing outside.  I remember going with my dad and younger brother to pick out the wood to build the box and then helping my dad hammer it together.  My brother and I spent hours playing in the sand box making mud pies and building sand castles. 

 

Behind the house that I grew up was a "forest" or what we considered a foster.  There were a lot of trees and alley ways so you could connect to another neighborhood.  We saw wild life back there - deer, racoons and skunks, built forts, had scecret meetings, dug for treasures, and carved into the trees. 

 

A lot of my play experiences involoved the out doors.  I remember always being outside, going for walks, riding bikes, playing in the back or front yard.  Our neighbor hood had a lot of kids that were around the same age as my brother and we were always playing with them.  My mom and dad always encouraged us to go outside.   As we grew older playing outside started to include building a garden box and planting flowers and vegetables.

 

Now that I have a 2 year old see parents being more cautious with their children (even my own parents with their granddaughter).  I don't see a lot of children playing outside anymore.  The children I work with when you ask them what they did over the weekend I hear a lot of I played video games or went to the movies.  I don't hear a lot about them doing things outside.  I am not sure if this has to do with people feeling unsafe by not sending their children out side but it is very different from how I was raised. 

 

I would like to think that as an adult my love for playing outdoors has helped me to raise my daughter in the way that I was raised.  My husband and I enjoy doing things outdoors with her.  I still remember one of the first times by dad babysat my daughter when she was about 1 years old and I came home and asked my dad what they did today.  He said we watched TV, read books, colored, played with toys...I said you didn't go outside it was beautiful out today (which meant there was no rain).  He looked at me and said not it was cold.  I told him that is why she has a jacket and hat.  If you are going to watch her she needs to go outside for at least 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon  - even if it is you pushing her in her stroller. 

 

My hope is for my daughter to grow up loving to be out doors and not wanting to sit at home in front of the TV or playing video games.  I hope that children are given the opportunity to being able to play outside and the busy lives their parents lead do not lead to children not being able to play. 

 

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

 -George Bernard Shaw

 

 

 

 

 

Relationship Reflections

"Human relationships, and the effects of relationships on relationships, are the building blcoks of healthy development" (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000, p. 4)

I have many relationships in my life - I have the relationships within my family both immediate and extended, my working group, my close circle of friends that I have known all my life and friends that I have only know a few years.  Relationships are important to me because the relationships I have in my life have helped create who I am in this world.  Some of the relationships I have had - had made small impacts in my life to help guide me with decisions and other relationships have made huge impacts in my life. 

My husband is someone that I have both a positive partnership and relationship with.  We have known each other a very long time and I met him when I had just graduated high school.  At that time in my life I was young and carefree and a lot of dreams floating around in my head.  As we have gotten older together we have both learned that a key to our relationship and parternship was communication.  Communication didn't have to be verbal but being able to express ourselves.  Email became our best friend (this was before the days of cell phones and texting) and I waited by the mail box for a letter by snail mail.  As our relationship blossmed into something more we formed a partnership to last a life time.  In order to have this partnership a key to keeping this partnership was the trust that we had for each other and in each other.  One of the reasons I value this relationship is because I am able to share my dreams with my husband and he is able to help me achieve my dreams - whether it is just with him being there to support me, help out financially or even pushing me to take the first step he is there for me.  He has helped me to be a better person both personally and professionally. 

Another relationship that I have a positive relationship with is sickness/illness. This may be an unsusual relationship but even though this relationship can be mean to people the relationship has helped me to live a better life.  I have learned through illness that there is more to life than work, I need to tell the people I love - that I love them more and I when I want a day to play hooky I don't have to feel bad about it.  We never know if we will awake to see tomorrow so we need to live today as if it is our last day on earth. 

My two year old daughter is also someone who I have a positive relationship with.  She has taught me that I don't have to feel guilty about going to work every day instead of being with her during the day.  She helped my husband and I communicate even more as we learned to become first time parents.  She has helped me to learn that I can ask for help and I won't be considered a failure.  She has learned to trust me that I will be there for her.  As I have grown as a mother over the past 2 years I have learned to value the time when she wants to hold my hand and walk on the beach or when even when she is adamant she doesn't need my help putting on her clothes.   I have learned to understand that in relationships that both parties need to be able to grow and trust each other. 

One of the keys that I see in all relationships is trust both professionally and personnally.  If I don't have trust with my co workers this will not create a good work environment and if I don't trust my family or friends we will not be able to communicate with each other.