My Connections to Play

QUOTES:

“Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold.”

Joseph Chilton Pearce (author)

“Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable.

Without it, life just doesn’t taste good” 

Lucia Capocchione

“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.”

 O. Fred Donaldson (martial arts master)

PICTURES OF ESSENTIAL PLAY ITEMS FOR MY YOUNGER SELF: 

 Doll Baby;   Tricycle;   Lego

 

In Nigeria, play was widely supported when I was younger.  My parents bought quite some play items for us (children – we were one or two years apart) to play with.  Items like Tricycle, Doll Baby, Lego, Ludo, Black Board and Chalk (although bought for learning, we also used it in teacher-student play).  Quite a lot were gained in play, like using Lego to build things - a house or an aero plane - promoted sense of imagination and confidence in us; using the tricycle as a taxi in taking people to market, collecting money and giving change was very good for our mental alertness and creativity which I still enjoy today.  Apart from getting the items for us, my parents, especially my father, trained us on the usage and still participated in some of the plays.  There were early childhood centers then also, but we had more play than learning that it was generally believed that we just leave home to play.

I feel play today is different from the play in which I engaged in as a child because in the centers then we hardly touched any writing material unlike today that children are now taught to hold and use writing materials from early childhood class. We were able to play with one another then and this helped us mentally, physically and also to know more about others around us, but today young children are saddled with writing and learning that there is little or no rapport among the children in the class.  Then, parents are able to get acquainted with each other through their children’s play pal but today, parents urge their children to learn and write faster than the other child that hostility is easily spreading across board.  My hope for younger ones today with regard to play is that the parents, teachers and the community will once again see the importance of play in lives of these children and embrace it as it used to be.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are the significant connection or similarity between two or more things or people and their involvement with one another.  Relationships/partnerships are important in life because man can not live  and thrive in a vacuum; even the Holy Bible supports relationships in Genesis when it says: ”it is not good for man to be alone”. Without relationships procreation would be absent and very soon the world would have come to an end.  Personally, relationships broaden my horizon, enrich my knowledge with various ideas from partners and this continue to help in sharpening my brain and keeping me abreast of new ideas. 

Currently, the relationships/partnerships between the following people and myself is positive and very cordial:

This is my husband and myself.  We have a good
husband/wife relationship. 
The relationship is being developed and
maintained through constant communication,
love, individuality and mutual respect for each other. 
Married in 1994.

              

This is my daughter. We enjoy a very good child/mother 

                                     relationship. 

                                     The relationship is being developed and                      

                                     maintained through constant Communication, show of love, 

                                     proper respect and understanding.

This is my son.  We enjoy a very good son/mother
relationship. 
The relationship is being developed and maintained 
through constant communication, show of love,
proper respect and understanding.

Next is my mother.  We have a good mother/daughter relationship. The relationship is being developed and maintained through communication, respect, idividuality and show of love.

Then all my four sisters. We have good sisterly relationships. The relationships are being developed and maintained through constant communication, mutual respect for each other, individuality, understanding and show of love toward one another.

Over time, I have experience some challenges in developing and maintaining relationships as a result of inadequate and total break-down in communication; ego; pride; and the like.

Some special characteristics that kept the relationships going are 1) Real show of love in exhibiting understanding; for example, if I had to spank any of my children (not often though), they still come back hugging me and apologising for their wrongs because they usually have a clear understanding of why the spanking was necessary.  2) Another characteristic is correcting in love; often, I have heard people around me; at home, at work and in church; say the way I correct brings fun to the ears, but sense to the the brain.

As an effective early childhood professional, my experience with relationships/partnerships will definitely impact positively on my work because I always learn from esperience and put myself in other peples shoes by imagining how they would  feel in situations.  I did not have many happy experiences while growing up (especially from my mum), and this has helped me to understand actions, reactions and feelings involve, and as a result, I am able to decide against some actions that draw negative feelings from the receiver and affect the general outlook for the child’s entire life.