“In our play we reveal what kind of people we are”. By Publius Ovidius Naso
“Play fosters belonging and
encourages cooperation”.
By Stuart Brown,
Childhood Connection to Play
When
I was younger my sister and I use to play house. It was our favorite game to
play together. We also use to build the houses for our dolls with blocks around
the yard. We were always outside playing with our toys or neighborhood friends.
Growing in Haiti, children are outside playing all day every day because adults
believe that children should be outside playing away from grownups. We were
told that children play outside, not in the house, because we use to bring
blocks inside the house to build out dolls house. The United States and Haiti
are two completely different environments. I moved to the United States when I
was still young and the rules were different such that I was able to play
inside the house and engage more with technology vs. Haiti where there is no
technology for children to play with. I am glad that I was able to experience
living in Haiti and in the United States as well. In fact, children need to be
outside on the playground to explore and excises their brain for a health
growth.
Sophia,
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to hear about living in Haiti as a child, and how different it is from living in the United States. It does compare pretty well with my early childhood in the 1960's in the U.S., in a rural farm area. We were not very well off, so we didn't have too many toys, either. As the youngest of six children, most of my toys were handed dpwn to me from my older siblings, or we had to share them. And we were told to play outside for most of the day. We basically came inside for meals, and came in for the end of the day when it got dark outside. We had a lot of fun, though. And now we appreciate the opportunity to have lived and played so hard then. It really did contribute to the building of our character as adults.
Thank you for providing us with insight into your childhood in Haiti. It's great hearing about how children interact and play outside of the U.S. My parents always encouraged me and my sister to play outside and "get some fresh air". Nowadays some parents are content with their child watching tv, being on the computer, or playing video games after school. We need to go back to the days when outside play was fun and encouraged.
ReplyDeleteHi Sophia. It is interesting to read how similar your play experiences are to mine in the U.S. I played house too. Technology was not a big thing in my U.S. home like it wasn't in your Haiti home. I think that is something that varies from home to home depending on what is important to the adults in the home. Thanks for sharing. It's good to know children play outside in other parts of the world too. :) Deb
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