Play is the work of childhood. So the experts tell us. But a child's play is no longer what it once was. Child psychologists have recently expressed concern that children today are losing valuable skills because their play and playtime has been rapidly changing. These changes include more adult supervision and less time outside.
One of the consequences of this seems to be the inablility to solve conflicts on their own.
This got me thinking. How does children's play today differ from what was play in my childhood. One obvious difference is that children rarely play outside in their neighborhoods any more. Gone are in the street baseball games and summertime classics like "red light, green light."
To be sure, the rise of computer technology has a lot to do with this. Combined with the fear of childhood abduction, it's easy to see why the neighborhood issue quiet outside these days. What a tradeoff.
It's been over 60 years since I've played any baseball in the street. But there was a time when it was a daily occurrence. At 8 years of age, a manhole cover made a good home plate, and a driveway a perfect warning track. On rare occasions if there were only a few kids, we actually played on our front lawns. My neighbors had one side of their lawn framed off by a hedge. Pyracantha bushes as I remember. It made a perfect ivy covered wall like the one at Wrigley Field in Chicago. We used a tennis ball to avoid breaking any windows should a foul ball go astray.
In my hood we "announced" our games. One kid or the team at bat, would emulate our favorite baseball announcers, deftly substituting our own last names in with Willie Mays, Duke Snyder, or Roberto Clemente.
Yes, back then, there were girls games and boys games. That's just the way it was. But in my neighborhood, all the kids between the ages of about 7-11 played together. These games tested the limits of our imaginations and while they were faithful to the prevailing sex roles of the time, they served to teach and enforce all the social skills needed.
In looking back, I marvel at some of the more elaborate games that I concocted with my childhood mates. We played "office" when a neighbor place some file folders in the trash. They were filled with old memos, receipts and miscellaneous documents from a local ice cream distributor. They looked good to us, and we set up homemade file cabinets, offices with intercoms and secretaries, and name plaques for the executives. There were coffee breaks (water) and big meetings taking place all the time. Office was perfect for a rainy day or bad weather of any kind.
In my neighborhood we had all manner of original games. We played "television" fashioning TV cameras from old blocks of wood and hanging up an old bedspread as a curtain. "Circus" was a favorite that featured various tricks performed in and around a swings. When my uncle gave my folks some boxes of used bowling pins another opportunity presented. He worked for various bowling alleys refinishing the lanes and the old wooden pins made great firewood. We regularly received a few boxes for our fireplace. My friends and I pulled out a set of ten in reasonably good condition; no splinters and good paint. A basketball served as a bowling ball, and we opened our garage bowling alley mush to the joy of my playmates. We had a bar too!
Yes, I see how many of those sex roles were reinforced by these games. But our consciousness would be raised in due time. I often wonder if these games actually made it easier for us to understand how and why these changes were needed.
I know those days and those games are gone, forever. But there are still ways that children, left on their own, can create their own imaginary worlds. In what seems like just a few yers ago, my nieces kids, all young adults now, used to play with their grandmothers costume jewelry. They'd put a hat on me, adorn me with earrings and necklaces and rings, proclaim me the "King." I was only too happy to oblige, despite looking rather foolish. I'd like to think this activity made us all a little healthier, mentally
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