Playing It Safe

Playing it Safe

“I believe that those boys who take part in rough, hard play outside of school will not find any need for horse-play in school.”

-Theodore Roosevelt

 American president

 1858–1919

I saw a recent report in the Wall Street Journal which found that the ever growing concern over the safety of children’s playgrounds has caused them to become dumbed down, boring, and lacking a sense of challenge or adventure. As a side effect, kids have become less interested in playing outside. I just want to rant on this topic for a second because it is something very near and dear to my heart.

In graduate school, whilst pursuing my Masters in Education, I focused a lot on the benefit of play in education, especially during early childhood. I wrote several research papers on the topic, and read from many authors, a number of them notable child psychologists or pioneers in child development. The topic fascinated me for a couple of reasons: 1) my own love of play as a child was thoroughly nurtured. Because of this, it has given me extraordinary gifts as far as my own sense of creativity, my comfort level in trying any physical activity, new or practiced, and my acute sense of self and healthy level of confidence. 2) having now worked in the field of education and child care, I have seen first-hand the effects of the “dumbing down” of activities and recreation spaces available to our kids. These effects are not pretty.

Here is something to consider: I child at age 3, when falling, will usually have pain associated with the fall, not to mention the usually scream/cry fit. But because of his size and the development of his bones at the time, which are more flexible and less likely to break, the damage to his body will be minor, and the benefit will have been a re-wiring of the brain that begins to train the body to improve coordination. The brain will make a mental note somewhat like this: Fall = pain = try to avoid pain = attempt to move body more carefully so as not to fall and experience pain. This is how we all learn things as we develop. Trial and error. Practice makes perfect.

Now, I’m not advocating letting kids run around in totally unsafe environments and see who comes out alive, i.e. survival of the fittest. What I am in favor of is doing things the way we’ve raised our kids in the past. Introducing them to the world with enough instruction and supervision so as to not put them in harm’s way, but also giving them the freedom to discover, explore, attempt, fail, try again, lose, win, succeed, feel pain, and feel joy. We are present to be a safety net if something does happen, but we also can’t hold their hands and carry them through life protecting them from any slip or stumble that may occur. I believe the term is “Helicopter Parenting”… constantly buzzing about, hovering over their children to provide protection and supervision at all times.

So, what happens then, if you constantly shield these little ones from ever having the experience of falling or hurting themselves? When they are older and have never trained their bodies to be more coordinated? I’d assume the amount of pain they are going to feel as an older child falling and getting hurt is going to be much more than as a toddler. How are their leg muscles to develop without ever having to try and jump up to reach that bar? How are their arms going to get stronger if they don’t have to try and hang onto that ring up high? How are they going to become faster if they aren’t allowed to run freely? How are they to become more coordinated if every time they fall they bounce off some rubber safety net?

Is recess going to be something to look forward to if every time they try to let loose and play a teacher or monitor blows a whistle? The only way to have fun is to conform to the list of 20 rules you must obey for fear of you or someone else’s parents suing the school because their child broke his arm. Is that something they are going to look forward to?

I saw this happen at the last school at which I worked. I was a Kindergarten teacher and typically 5 year olds LOVE recess. In fact they LIVE FOR recess. Well, turns out after so many times having to sit out because they were running across the bridge, or going up the slide, or going down the slide too fast, or running on the sidewalk or swinging too high, they ended up not looking forward to recess. Many of them (not all) even looked forward to rainy day recess when we would be stuck inside watching a movie or playing board games at tables. That’s just nuts! I remember growing up thinking that rainy day recess was practically the worst thing that could happen to my day. And I don’t think I was alone. The excitement we would experience when we were told we weren’t going to have to stay inside was palpable.

I was already disappointed at the lack of playground equipment available to these kids when half-way through the year we went outside only to find that the “big kid play scape” (the one we got to go to for special occasion recess) was torn down due to equipment deemed “unsafe”. Apparently they were going to rebuild and the model would have no fireman’s pole, no large slide, no high bars, padded surface underneath, etc. etc. Basically, the most boring play scape you could imagine as a child. No wonder they want to stay inside.

Today’s children not only don’t want to go outside, they want to sit. And watch a movie. Or play a video game.

And we wonder why we are having an obesity epidemic??

Then there is the psychological bit that bothers me. The constant worry adults present before our children.

The biggest concern I have is that we are training our future generations to be held back by fear. We are developing a nation of people living in fear. Our entire society is experiencing that right now. We are bombarded by news of this and that which poses a potential threat to us and our way of life. Every day there is a new fear. A new terror. Children can’t even play on a playground in schools without being instilled with the fear of something happening to them. You might fall! You might get put in time out for running too fast! You might scrape your knee!

Play is important to kids. It’s not just an escape from learning. It’s actually where real learning takes place. Kittens learn to do adult cat things by playing. They learn to stalk and pounce from their time spent pretending to stalk and pounce. Every animal on the planet learns this way, and humans are no different. Play is meant as dress rehearsal for life. We want our kids to grow up to be strong, smart, caring and healthy individuals. But we scare them into being lethargic, overweight, sickly, and bored. What does this say about our future?

The article I brought up makes me fired up. And it gives me hope. It talks about new innovations being created for playground equipment that can meet safety standards and also provide the type of risk-taking atmosphere needed to make a playground fun, and in my mind, effective. Play, again, is learning and how better to learn to take risks than in a supervised situation such as a playground.

So, what are your own thoughts? Are you currently aware of the changes made to playgrounds in recent years and if so, what do you think? Should we move to be more creative with our playgrounds? Is it important that we nurture the sense of adventure and risk-taking in children during their formative years? How do we get this band wagon rolling?

:-)

Here is some other reading on this topic:

The Telegraph
The Strong
Playground Design

Challenge

Hi.


Hello there world.

All of you 10 people who have viewed my blog in the past 3 years. :-)



So, I’m going to give this one last shot. To kick start the process I’m enlisting the assistance of a “Blog Challenge.” It sounds desperate of me, but according to sources it’s the best way to be totally unoriginal and still have enough posts to make your blog seem worthy of reading every day. I acquired this blog challenge from another blogger who spoke of it being “less cheesy than most”…apparently there are cheesier blog challenges out there? Years ago this would have worried me, but today I’m never surprised or too taken aback.

Before I begin, though, I want to provide an update:

• I am still living in Pittsburgh, PA and am liking it much more.

• I still have not found a teaching job, but in the meantime I have become a Senior Office Manager for an energy company. Nothin too fancy, and definitely not my passion, but no shame in having a senior level management position.

• Pittsburgh drivers are still, really, the worst.

• Pittsburgh sports fans are the best fans in the world. They also kind of scare me, perhaps in a good way. Their fandom impresses me every day.

• I do other activities with my free time now, which include:

o Reading good books and reviewing them with friends

o Working out at Crossfit and becoming super strong and fit

o Eating a Paleo diet (most of the time)

o Art and Creative Impressions (more of that to come)

o Taking care of our new cat, “Jazz”

• Still attempting to create a weblog…blog…that is interesting enough to at least get me to come back semi-regularly to write in and proofread. Some of this other crap on my blog is a total waste of internet space. If I succeed in filling up this blog once and for all I might go on a big deleting mission to erase the fact that I had 2 posts in 2 years and they were so boring. Ugh I hate being bored and also being boring!

So now that it’s all caught up, get ready for the 30 day blog challenge extravaganza! Let the games begin!

The Pitts

Here is a life update for all who care. I had lived in Houston for two years (having moved there from Austin for a teaching job). I worked at a school teaching Kindergarten (LOVED IT!) shared an apartment with my roommate, who was also a teacher, in an up and coming neighborhood of central Houston (i.e. once dangerously "urban" now being infiltrated with coffee shops and hipsters...fine enough for the young professional crowd) and was down the street from my boyfriend and several of our good friends. Well just as life would have it, boyfriend got a job offer that required relocation, boyfriend wanted me with him there so I became fiancee, quit job, left family and friends and comfort of Texas and headed Northeast to Pittsburgh, PA. Now, 3 months later...Thoughts about my recent move to Pittsburgh:

1. Having a job es no bueno.
Yep. I might have fantasized years ago about what all I would do if I were given a year off from work. Well folks, it is one things to fantasize about something and quite another to realize this so-called fantasy (and not by choice, I might add). For one, I think that in my fantasy year-off-of-work I also had a disposable income to do with what I wanted. That made for a great year full of classes, gym memberships, shopping, arts and crafts, home projects, books, movies and traveling, etc. Now that my joblessness is a reality, I've been rudely awaken to the fact that without a job that brings in money (again, not by choice!) none of these fun things is possible. So that leaves me with doing things like:

1. Creating a blog.
2. Cleaning the house
3. Walking around the neighborhood
4. Coming up with another idea for a blog
5. Surfing the web for things to write about in a blog
6. Surfing the web for benefits of having a blog
7. Blogging about surfing the web to find benefits of a blog
8. Surfing the web for signs of web addiction
9. Walking around the neighborhood (counter clockwise this time)
10. Baking
11. Realizing that I am not a good baker
12. Breathing
13. Yoga (self led)
14. Imagining what I would be doing with all this time if I had money.
15. Looking for jobs.

2. People in Pittsburgh Can't Drive
Apologies for anyone from Pittsburgh who can drive. Maybe I just have yet to encounter you on the road. As for all the other drivers of Pittsburgh, I have no idea how they were taught to drive and why there are not more accidents. Pittsburgers will literally stop in the middle of a road, with only one lane in each direction, while traffic is moving at full speed, because they see someone (on the opposite side than them) trying to turn onto the road. Traffic behind said driver comes to screeching hault, with no other lanes to go around them in, and meanwhile traffic on the opposing lane continues, thus preventing the wanting-to-turn driver from being able to complete turn onto road. Traffic continues to build behind person who has chosen to come to screeching hault in the middle of a road (with no traffic light or sign present) and soon the opposite lane sees that line of traffic building and building and soon someone from their side decides it is best to come to a screeching hault as well. Of course, driver-wanting-to-turn is confused because they are supposed to just wait until cars of cleared to turn onto the road but now everyone is stopping so they cautiously (and slowly) make their way onto the road to turn. What? I couldn't believe it the first time I saw it, and now I am dumbfounded each day by it. I seriously do not understand.
I've also seen someone try to run through a yellow light, only to decide at the last minute that they should go ahead and stop. Right UNDER the light that just turned red. Yes, I mean in the middle of the intersection so no one else can move. But this driver will not move from said spot (directly under the red light) until it turns green. Naturally.

3. Snow
It gets cold here early and snows (I am told). That says it all.

4. Friends and Family are Fun
It is hard making new friends in a new city. It is even more difficult when you cannot get a job anywhere! I will rant about this forever but seriously...I have a Masters degree and plenty of experience, not only in teaching but in other careers I held prior to that degree. I am a fully capable human being and yet I've been turned down for 100s (yes...100s) of jobs I've applied to. And they range from teacher, to sales person, to coffee shop Barista. WTF.
Anyhow, a happy person does not a lonely city make. My friends and family back home talk about how much they miss us, but really, they don't know the extent of the word "miss". I truly miss companionship, camaraderie, shared interests, talking to human beings. Sure I have my fiance here but while he is at work all day I am left alone and without a purpose. (see number 1 for activities of a friendless girl).

5. Planning a Wedding from Pittsburgh...
...is not that fun. I miss out on all the good stuff like the tastings, the designs, the meeting of the actual people, etc. Since we are wedding in Texas, but living here for the time being, it makes things a little more difficult. And not as much fun.

Well now that I've left you all feeling in the greatest of spirits, here is something to cheer you (and me) up! Life is only what you make of it!

Return of the Prodigal Blogger

Hello there! It has been a while to say the least. I doubt I was missed here but I'll have all of you know that I've returned with new resolve, new ideas and more inspiration to share with the interweb world of this blog. It took me a while to find my voice once again and now that I have found it I cannot let it go unheard. There are things worth talking about - the economy, the state of our union, the state of the arts ( can't we all agree that music and movie making is having a major renaissance in the most positive of ways?), education, the environment and the secrets, ponderings, mysteries of the world. I enjoy talking, and I think I might even like writing better (my throat doesn't get dry as easily) so come on folks! Let's discuss some things and come up with some ideas and share. Isn't that the ultimate benefit of the internet? It's one of the last great things you can enjoy for FREE.

What A Loss...

I know...I know. I've been a horrible blogger. Didn't realize just how busy the school year would be and was also not prepared for working two jobs and finishing my research over the summer. Nevertheless, I feel the need to post this somewhere. 

Because I am a product of the 80s. And those of you who lived it with me know that we have lost something great. The death of Michael Jackson feels like the death of a part of childhood, a part of our collective past. The entire world has their own memories of certain songs, what different songs remind them of, how his songs can transport you back to a time and a place, nostalgia for that day as a child that you saw his video on TV and your jaw dropped or when you tried to moonwalk to Billie Jean. (Emphasis: tried). Say what you want about his eccentricities or appearance, but when you put on some MJ you know you have a jam. And that's what it is all about is his music. What is amazing is that his music is just as relevant today as it was over 25 years ago. Is there a musical artist today with that same originality, raw talent, passion, and exuberance for the world of music and its fans? I'm struggling to think of a musician of our current era that can now carry that torch and I can't think of one...and that is what makes it so sad. I'm happy that we were left with so much of his music and we will always have it. But I still wonder if there could have been more? I just have to wonder if his comeback tour for which he was preparing would've blown us away...or would we have been left disappointed. I wonder the same thing about artists like John Lennon or Kurt Cobain...would they have become just mediocre in their old age? Or could we be possibly still enjoying more of their musical genius? It is selfish of me, I know, but truly gifted artists don't happen all the time. To sum it up, I'll leave with a quote that MJ offered when discussing the success of his albums (this one in reference to Dangerous):

"I wanted to do an album that was like Tehaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. So that in a thousand years from now, people would still be listening to it. Something that would live forever. I would like to see children and teenagers and parents and all races all over the world, hundreds and hundreds of years from now, still pulling out songs from that album and dissecting it. I want it to live" (Ebony Magazine, 1992).

...And here I am, listening to his songs and I'm sure places all over the world are doing the same. His music will belong to the ages and will live forever. 

Time really does just pass right by, like sifting sand through hands that hold it, trying to squeeze it tightly to enclose it. To feel it passing through the fingertips, it grips the soul that needs it, wants it, sifts through it, haunts it, has it just to feel at ease. Please, don't let it pass through gaping holes, strength can't last, and then it folds, this soul that thirsts for one last chance, to feel the grains of time and dance. With thoughts of having full hands once more, filling with sand, feeling more and more. Each grain that passes catches a ride with the wind and off it goes never to return again. So the soul keeps digging, hungering for more, of the sand of time that melts into the shore. 

Aint it funny how time slips away...

Time