Psychologists have long studied the nature of play in and for children. Often, the bottom line here is imagination. The essence of play for many children is the ability to imagine and then model the people and things we see.
But Play, like most social institutions is changing...rapidly. Kids don't play the way they used to, quite simply. Something is lost and gained because of that. Take three generations and sit them down and discuss the nature of play. What and how did you play as a child and how does that differ from kids today and how did it differ from your parent's generation?
The technology developed in the last few decades seems to be the driving factor in describing these differences. Today everything is virtual as opposed to real. Sure kids still play Monopoly and maybe even Clue but they rarely invent their own games.
I think my childhood, growing up in the 1950s was typical of the post-war generation. My memories of play are vivid. With the boys, it was always war, with lots of army gear and running through the neighborhood attacking and defending various areas. But with the many kids in my neighborhood, all being between 8 and 12 years old, we had elaborate games and scenarios that included boys and girls playing all day in summertime together.
We played Western Town, and Office, the most. Sure the sex roles were rigid, but that's what we knew. We created a restaurant with a bar and called it the Candlelight Inn. When my uncle gave my folks some retired bowling pins ( his job was refinishing bowling alley lanes) we grabbed the best-looking ones before they could be burned in the fireplace and played Bowling Alley using a basketball to knock over the pins in our driveway.
When one of our neighbors who was an executive for the Carnation Company dumped a load of file folders containing invoices and correspondence in his trash, we salvaged the best-looking ones and played office. I was the vice president of a firm called Rockwell and Rockwell. The President was the oldest kid in our group. I'm afraid the girls were secretaries and wives. But that's what we knew. That's what we saw on television, in our parent's lives, and in our society in general. It was a true Mad Men universe.
When my nieces' children were young, about 15 years ago,4 cousins used to go into their Great Grandma's closet and put on all her costume jewelry and play. Invited to join them one day, I agreed to have them adorn me with all manner of costume jewelry. According to them, I was the "King" even though I was wearing their Nana"s earrings, scarves, hats, and necklaces. It all looked rather sparkly and therefore fit for a king. I rejoiced that they were using their imagination much like I recall I did with my peers. How often does that happen today? I hope it is not lost, for I fear the consequences.
In the next few years, I expect there will be studies that answer some of these questions. Already we, as a culture, seem to be concerned about the amount of outdoor time kids spend, and how they often are online for hours at a time. All of us need to be concerned about the latter, I'm told.
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