Posts Tagged ‘Making a Difference’
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…time and space for free play.
I’m continuing my series on ways I would love to make a difference in the world. In previous posts I suggested an indoor play area not part of a fast food restaurant in every community and a bookshelf full of age appropriate books for every home. I’ve been thinking a lot about play as a necessary part of child development. I recently began reading Playful Parenting by Lawrence J. Cohen. He names three reason child desperately need play in their lives:
- To Connect, or Reconnect after connection has been severed
- To Build Confidence by role playing and practicing new skills in a safe environment
- To Heal from Emotional Distress by recreating the situation with different roles and outcomes
These are compelling reasons why children need generous amounts of free time to play, create, connect, imagine and discover the world around them and their position in that world. I see such potential in my little ones and I want more than anything to provide every opportunity to foster that potential. But my biggest fear is over-scheduling them in sports, lessons, service opportunities and any other good thing that may arise. Cohen goes on to explain that this need for play is not an early childhood phenomenon. That childhood is made up of this need to play and it stretches long past toddlerhood.
It’s not just important that children play, but that they have playmates. This could be siblings, friends and even, maybe most importantly, parents. When we use play as an opportunity to connect with our children we can learn something about them and their experiences that we would never be able to draw out of them through conversation alone. When we use play to build confidence in our children they are learning in a most powerful way the strength of their character and determination to master a skill. When we use play to help them heal from emotional distress we skip over the discipline, yelling, correcting that we somehow come to rely on and jump instead straight to the heart of the matter and bring our little ones back to the joy of life they so often display.
For these reasons, and many more, I want every child to have the time and space to play.
What do you want for every child?
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…A bookshelf full of age appropriate books for all members of the household.
This one takes a bit of background so please bear with me! I am an only child. I read and read and read all throughout my childhood. Books were my escape from hours of endless boredom. I always told people that I would have a dozen or so children so that no one would ever be bored at my house. Fast forward to my present situation: stay-at-home mom of two children. I’m trying to figure out the whole sibling relationship thing right along side my daughters.
Whenever there are squabbles that don’t die down or when the girls are so emotionally charged, my coping skill is to scoop them up and read them a book. Books have become a neutral ground for us. The girls always come together over a book. I can read them a book, sometimes two, and they are ready to play together again. When my mom was here, she used the same coping skill! It cracked me up to hear her over crying girls, “Come here and I’ll read you a book.” And it works like a charm.
The benefits of early exposure to books is astounding to me. Literature is such a powerful way for parents to connect with children, for children to connect with each other and for families to come together. To help each family secure the benefits of literacy and reading habits, I’d like to see each family have a bookshelf in their home full of books just right for the ages of all members of the family.
My Book Picks By Age
Ages: 0-2
Five Little Ducks
We love this book because it takes the familiar song and changed up each of the verses so ti’s not so redundant. My favorite is the ending because the mother duck goes out to look for her ducklings and they all come back to her. Sometimes when we sing the song we sing this ending instead of the daddy duck version. Makes me feel better I love Dan Yaccarino’s illustrations and have enjoyed any book I’ve seen illustrated by him.
Love and Kisses
We love this book. We bought it from the library a couple of years ago and the girls have read it completely to pieces. I’m actually buying it again because we’ve enjoyed it so much. It’s all about the circle of giving love and how that love always comes back around to you. It has cute illustrations and lots of animals. We practice our animal sounds as we read it so it’s interactive. Elli is currently enthralled with the little frog and stops on that page every time we read it!
Ages: 2-5
Good Night, Gorilla
This is such a cute bedtime book. The gorilla has so much personality and the ending is adorable. We love the zoo so this book is a great way to remember and revisit the zoo as often as we like. For the longest time, Sammi said “granilla” instead of “gorilla.” I tried to explain it to her, but she was determined she was saying it correctly. It was pretty cute and we got lots of great smiles whenever she told people how much she liked the granillas at the zoo.
Where the Wild Things Are
This book took us a little bit to fall in love with. But once Sammi let me read it all the way through, she was hooked. My favorite part is when Max is lonely and wants to go where someone loves him best of all. I asked Sammi who would love Max best of all and she shouted, “His Mommy!” We include that in every reading now. I just love the imagery of Sendak’s language because it is beautiful but still accessible to little ones. We also loved the movie. Sammi wasn’t scared at all. In fact, it helped her resolve some of her own fears and emotional outbursts. I think it’s just about time to see it again!
Ages: Elementary School
Charlotte’s Web
Sammi and I read this book when she was two. I read it to her every morning at breakfast. It took us a few months to finish, but she stuck with it. She really enjoyed what she got out of it. We saw a real baby white pig, just like Wilbur and that was very exciting to her. I remember reading this book with my mom when I was in elementary school and just loved it, too. It’s a great read-aloud book as well as an individual read.
Ages: Junior High/Middle School
The Wednesday Wars
This book was a Newberry Award honor book in 2008. I really enjoyed the flow of the book as well as the storyline. It covers a lot of issues experienced by junior high/middle school students with humor and depth. It’s the story of a boy and his journey of self-discovery. I think it appeals to boys because of the main character and his boyish interests, but it’s well written and would still be a good read for a girl.
Ages High School
The Outlaws of Sherwood
I love Robin McKinley’s ability to retell classic stories. She is an amazing storyteller and can weave the very essence of the characters, plot, twists and triumphs into the pages the book is printed on. I never fail to lose myself in one of her books. My all time favorite is Beauty
For Grown Ups
The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease
This book is an inspiration for reading with your family. Aside from outlining the benefits of reading aloud, he gives great examples of how to make it work for different ages and different situations. I love that he encourages all people, whatever their level to start today to read with their family members. I had a cool experience with this idea one day at the library. There was a mom sitting on the floor with her two children, one of whom was on her lap. She was reading them a book. She was stumbling over some of the words and I could tell she was out of her comfort zone to be reading aloud to her little ones, especially in public. But, her children were so engrossed in what she was reading, it didn’t even matter. It was obvious they loved listening to their mom read out loud to them. As parents, we have a connection with our children that enables us to step outside our comfort zones and do things with and for our little ones because they have no judgment. They are 100% accepting and embracing. I so appreciate that!
So that’s my list! The books I’d love to see every family be able to own and a bookshelf to put them on. Sorry it was so long. I hope you made it this far This post is part of Adventure Mom Janna’s Feed Me Books Friday. Check out the other books moms are sharing.
What would you love to see in every home?
…An indoor play area NOT part of a fast food restaurant.
I’ve noticed a trend in blog posts, Facebook status updates and conversations during these long winter months. That topic? How to keep from going crazy couped up inside when it’s too cold to play outside. Fast food has not been an acceptable option for me when it comes to feeding my girls. Even as recent as last month I turned down a lunch invite to McDonald’s because I didn’t want to buy that food for my girls. But, one late nap and a very wired three year old had me singing a very different tune.
When trying to find ways for Sammi to get some physical play when she woke up from a nap at 6 pm I was in a bit of a dilemma. How on earth was I supposed to get her tired enough to go to bed when it was already dark and it was very cold and snowy? I finally caved and we went to Old McDonald’s(as she calls it) so she could climb, slide and crawl to her heart’s content. Since that fateful day, we have gone to McDonald’s four or five more times. It kills me! I just want a place to play without the obligation to purchase food.
Another option is the play areas at the mall. We’re fortunate enough that the malls that are close to us all have pretty fun play areas. They provide opportunities for climbing and sliding and, as an added bonus, a bit of imaginative play. But the closest mall to us is 45 minutes away, not exactly a viable option for an evening outing. And not all malls have play areas. I was shocked when a mall in Utah removed its wonderful play area because of lack of funding to maintain it. Seriously?
So, I propose a community indoor play area that is not associated with food, that is not associated shopping, that is just a place focused on play. I want it to be on neutral ground where any family would feel comfortable using the indoor play area. Just as they would to play at the city park.
What do you want for every community?
While at Blissdom earlier this month I had the opportunity to hear, and later speak with, one of the most influential players in promoting the necessity of play, Kevin Carroll. I sat in awe as I listened to his story of overcoming being abandoned by his father and then his mother. He embraced play as a way to explore his feelings, understand his experiences and find a place to belong. I can hardly do his story justice; you’ll just have to imagine the most touching story of trial and triumph told in the most eloquent way and you’ll have some idea of what I experienced.
I have long valued the power of play in a child’s life. I firmly believe every child needs time and space to play. To explore their environment, to learn how to interact with others and to let their imaginations run wild. Kevin Carroll, Katalyst reminded me that it’s not just children who need time and space to play. As adults, we also benefit from play, daily. My favorite quote from his presentation was, “If you don’t make time for play-deleterious things will happen!” We even took an oath resigning our adulthood and embracing the opportunities for play that come with childhood. I needed the reminder that play is important for renewing my creativity as much so as it is for my children.
I wanted to share Kevin Carroll with you because he’s really inspired me to evaluate my dreams and vision for my future and the future of my blog. I find myself filled with a desire to do good, a yearning to make a difference, and yet I am having a difficult time clarifying exactly what good I can do or what difference I can make. His presentation has filled my head with all kinds of ideas for way to find my dream and develop a plan to accomplish it.
Since such a journey seemed rather daunting to me, I thought I’d share it with you as a way to motivate me to continue my pursuit and a way to get feedback and input along the way. As I was talking with my mom on the drive home from Nashville about the ideas that were rolling around in my mind, she added some terrific dreams of her own that I plan on sharing, too. I’m looking forward to this process together!
To get started, what inspires you?
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