Play was all around me when I was a child. I was very fortunate to have to parents who strongly encouraged us to constantly play. I remember being outside with friends, playing with my baby dolls (my younger self obsession), and playing teacher or town all the time. Yes, we had responsibilities as children in the house and with school but we were always encouraged to play when we could. My play was also very extravagant! When my cousins and myself played town or teacher we spent more time setting up the classroom or town then we actually did playing. For us, everything was realistic and what we thought life actually was as an adult. Our family always went along if they were included in play and supported our imagination.
Play today seems to be very technology based. When talking to children I work with at work or babysitting children, I feel like the majority of children want to constantly play with the Ipad or video games. When I was a child we were always outside or in and out of the house all the time. I currently live in a city and I also feel like that decreases the amount of time spent outside because there isn't yards and areas to ride bikes or play soccer.
A positive I see in play today is the focus on gender specific roles. I think people today are more aware of this and they allow girls to play super heros and boys to wear dresses. This is a natural developmental stage and back in my day it was very frowned upon. I am happy to see people moving towards normalizing this for our children.
Coming from a childhood that encouraged play all the time and then working in early childhood, play has always been in my life. I do think it's beneficial to always have that concept in the back of your head. I think it's extremely beneficial for children when they have adults engaging in play with them not just encouraging.
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