My Connections to Play

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”- Plato

“A person's maturity consists in having found again the seriousness one had as a child, at play” - Nietzsche

I grew up an only child so I played a lot by myself. Even when I was with my cousins, who were boys, I would play by myself. I had my favorite toys (pictured below) that I enjoyed. I loved playing board games, cards, and puzzles as well. I would always pretend to play with someone else. To this day I can play a game alone and not cheat! Play was important in my childhood because it’s what I did to keep myself company. I was a serious child even at play!

Children play differently now than when I was a child. We spent more time outdoors playing games like tag, hide ‘n seek, and riding bikes. Today children spend more time indoors playing video games or other electronics. I didn’t have my first video game until middle school; I was one of the first children in the neighborhood to have one.

There was a time in education when recess was disappearing and children weren’t getting the opportunity to play during the day. However, that has changed since society became aware of the health hazards of inactivity that children are experiencing. So with recess a part of the school day children are learning how to play with playground equipment and games with their peers they may not be exposed to at home.

Play in childhood helps develop the skills that we need in life as adults. While playing you learn how to compromise, patience, negotiate, time management, communication, and physical skills.



Barbie Dream House



Baby Doll



Big Wheel



Child Development and Public Health

I have been concerned about mental health and its impact on families for a few years. A number of students in my recent Kindergarten classes have been affected by mental health issues in their families. Either a parent suffering from some type of mental health issue or concern that the student may have a mental health issue. Understanding the challenges that families are enduring is important and will impact how you form a relationship with them.

In Ghana, Africa one in five children suffers from a mental disorder (Kleintjes, S., Lund C., Flisher, AJ, 2010). Policy makers and researchers are seeking ways to remove the barriers for people resisting treatment such as the stigma attached to disorders, low priority for treatment, and poverty. Families receiving treatment and early intervention face some of the same challenges that are seen in the Western world.  

An article in the Concord Monitor (Toumpas & Barry, 2009) points out that “research tells us that healthy emotional development is critical to a child’s health and well-being and greatly affects his or her ability to learn.” If children have experienced early trauma, abuse, or have an untreated mental health problem they may have trouble in the classroom socially and struggle academically. All children need the benefit of early intervention for mental health issues for the best chance of normal, healthy development during their early childhood years. These situations can greatly affect how you, as an educator, interact with the child and the family.  

Kleintjes S, Lund C, Flisher AJ. Afr J Psychiatry (Johannesburg). 2010 May;13(2):132-9.

Toumpas, N. and Barry, V. Concord Monitor. Concord, N.H. June 17, 2009.