Importance Of Play

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It was one summer afternoon we were playing for keeps. My best friend Katherine and I hid in the bushes from the fearsome “Oogie Boogie” trying to survive another day. Our hearts beat with fear and anticipation. It was just the two of us, searching for other survivors to restore civilization. Suddenly, we heard my mom’s voice. It was time to go inside and the world of survival, mystery and imagination to end. Our playtime was over. Now, even though 8 years later, that statement is still true to this day. Sadly, for many of us playtime is over, America no longer knows how to play. This is true for little kids and the so called big kids. According to Dr David Whitebread’s report The importance of play states that America contradicts play with work and characterizes it as a type of trivial activity that serves no purpose. And we either see it as something kids do because they’re apparently immature and something that they will eventually grow out of.
Now, let’s take these two worlds and inspect, first, structured play for children, and secondly, the adults neglecting “play”.
Today kids aren’t permitted to play – they have instructed play; they’re structured and have schedules. Children have been stripped of using their own imagination and creativity at play time. An alternative could be a scheduled play date. Even though Peter Gray’s article America Journal of Play said that children’s free play is continually declining because adults have put forth control over children’s activities. Anxious parents are always determining how many activities they should enroll their kids in like swimming, soccer, or piano lessons. Some places even give you finger painting lessons. Kids don’t need lesson on how to finger paint, they just f...

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...o change what you think about play is to give yourself the okay to play. Try to always surround yourself with playful people or with the little ones; you can experience the magic of play through their perspective. Working your favorite hobbies, telling jokes and goofing off can provide mental and physical health benefits, says life coach Susan Biali. We all need to play, even though we don’t all play the same way; it is a way to connect with ones self and possibilities. George Bernard Shaw once said, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. “

Earlier you might have thought that “Oogie Boogie” sounded juvenile, but back then, to Katherine and I “Oogie Boogie” was important and he was our creation. So, forget how old you are, and remember that life’s greatest lesson were learned on a playground. Let us try to play for keeps.

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