Let the children Play. Joseph Chilton Pearce.

A child will pick up a spool of thread, and that will become an automobile, or a match box will become a bed, or a chest of drawers: where one object can stand for another. That’s the basis of metaphoric thinking for the rest of our lives. Joseph Chilton Pearce. Natural Born Learners: Unschooling and Autonomy in Education

Here is an excerpt from Pearce's chapter called "A conversation about the magical child," in the Natural Born Learners Reader.

A great neuro-scientist, Paul Maclean, who was head of brain development research here at the National Institute of Health, came up with three needs. He calls them a trio or trinity of needs. From the moment of birth on, they are: audio-visual communication, nurturing, and play. They are all equally important, and they are all interdependent.

It’s interesting that play is included as the most important thing that a child could have, not only for the development of their body, but their whole neural system. Play begins almost immediately at birth. The child catches on quickly when the adult is willing to play.

Play can take place only in what Michael Mendizza and I (2003) call “the safe place” (p. 69). A child must feel secure to play. That’s what audio-visual communication and nurturing is, a safe space. Given that safe space, the spontaneous reaction is to play, and to turn every activity into play.
Children, I don’t think, have much connection with work. They will turn work into play, or they will play at their work; which is exactly what they should do.

In Montessori schools, they use the term “work,” but if you look closely, you’ll see that there is the same spontaneous freedom of movement, speech, and play. A critical part of all learning is the ability to approach it playfully. Literally, this has to do with the structure of the brain itself.

When people are in a totally safe space, feel completely secure, safe, and nurtured, the center of neurologic action shifts to the forebrain, which is the latest evolutionary development in brain structure, the structure for creating imagination, the one that will lead us to metaphoric, symbolic thinking, which underlies all of our great subjects like science, mathematics, religion, and philosophy. All those depend on metaphoric, symbolic capacities, which are developed in play, and play is the only way that this metaphoric, symbolic capacity can develop.

Play can only take place in a safe space. If the child feels at all insecure, a good part of their energy of their brain and body centers around the defensive areas, which are the sensory-motor, what we call the hind brain. Activity moves back into the more ancient animal structure, the reptilian brain, the oldest part of the brain systems. You can clearly see, with the new scanning devices, when the child is shifting from the forebrain, the highly-civilized mind, into the more ancient animal brain structures, when they are concerned about their safety.

Play, in the first seven years, develops this creative forebrain, which sets us beyond all the animals. The most important form of play arises from storytelling, after about the first year of life. Up until then, it’s any repeated interaction between the infant and the parent. For example, hiding, peek-a-boo, little surprise movements, repeated over and over. The child immediately interprets this as play and goes into a state of hilarious delight. They do this from very early on. After about a year, when they have their language pretty much under control, storytelling is a primary impetus to play, because, having been told a story, they create internal imagery in keeping with the story, that activity brings about neural development. They want to play that inner image out in the world. That’s when you get metaphoric and symbolic play.   Want more?  Buy the reader here. Thanks!

Play with me!

"Play with me," a child calls to his mother and then proceeds to demand that she play in the exact way he wants her to: "Pick up the blue one, not the purple." "You have to turn left, not right."
"Move the train around the track after  I do."
Not nice.
When you try to suggest ideas, you get turned down with a resounding "NO!"
 "This just isn't fun," you say to yourself. After all, no one wants to be bossed around by their kid.

And while we are constantly being told that we need to be playing with our kids to aid along their development as well as to enjoy tighter bonding, it is often the case that we don't know how to—nor do some of us really want to. "I've pulled out the puzzles, we've done lego and played chase and now what? I'm bored," a friend tells me.

I think about how my kids played when they were little and how I too had to play the roles assigned to me. For example, with Thomas the Tank Engine stories, I had to be the greedy capitalist, Sir. Topham Hat, extracting ever more labour from the non-unionized working trains.
Often I'd be rotten Diesel 10, running after the other little engines and causing havoc.
In Lord of the Rings, I had to be Saruman (always the bad guy, never the good person).
I understood that I was a mere character in the script to be moved around at will but I did not mind because I truly enjoyed scaring the kids and chasing them around.

Interestingly enough, the way we westerners may think of play is not necessarily how other cultures do. For instance, in some cultures and indeed, from what I understand, hunter-gather societies, kids will hang around parents and play along side the parent, usually playing (and even contributing in their own small way),  at imitating their parents working; eventually growing up to do the jobs the parents do.
In other cultures, there is no distinction between work and play..it is all one and the same with adults simply doing their work, but doing it with cheerfulness and fun.

Today, just as we make special arrangements for education, we make special arrangements for play time. So it is not surprising that to many of us, it doesn't feel natural, especially if we are not playful by nature.
I suggest not getting hung up on the word 'play' but rather pursue things you both like to do together--for instance story telling with stuffed animals and puppets was fun because I really enjoyed it.
Maybe you like fixing things; here's a way your child and you can 'play' at fixing while chatting and laughing together. No one says it has to be physical or fantasy to be play--just do things creatively and  cheerfully—that is, don't focus on correcting the child, or controlling too closely the project.
The trick is not to think of play as 'entertaining kids,' but rather authentically being in the moment.

Approaching the thing with lightness

I was thinking about how when you go to a thing in a really serious way, much is lost. The edge is missing. The mystery waiting to reveal itself, never will. The chance at discovery vanishes.

It's like if you're doing a painting and you absolutely have this image in mind and you won't deviate or allow for surprises, you'll end up with a less interesting piece. That's my experience anyway.

I think that its got to do with playfulness. So when you get all serious and grim about something, say education, or changing the world, it gets really boring for you and everyone involved.

And as Karlsson on the Roof (Astrid Lindgren) has been known to say, "If there's no fun, I won't stay." Something like that. It's my motto for this week. And that goes with my idea of not taking myself so seriously.

What do schools do? They make learning dull.

Now look at how my daughter learns about the axis powers without ever having being bored in a history lesson- she watches Hetalia!
http://www.tegmentum.net/hetaliaeps.html
Here's a short description from Wiki:
Axis Powers Hetalia (ヘタリア Axis Powers Hetaria Akushisu Pawāzu) is a webcomic, later adapted as a manga and an anime series, by Hidekaz Himaruya (日丸屋秀和 Himaruya Hidekazu). The series presents an allegorical interpretation of political and historic events, particularly of the World War II era, in which the various countries are represented by anthropomorphic characters. Hetalia (ヘタリア) is a portmanteau combining hetare (へタレ, Japanese for "unreliable") and Italia (イタリア). This is to make light of Italy's apparent cowardice during World War II.

So in grade 10 history at the high-school she goes to- who has the highest mark in the class? She does with a 97% average.

I like to think of it as approaching what we do with lightness rather than heavy handedly. To quote again and this time accurately from that fat, chubby, man Karlsson, "Easy, just easy now."

Play with Me!

How much do you play with your kids?

This was the topic of discussion on a list I'm subscribed to.
Playing with your kids can be-face it-boring. Often, you simply find yourself staring into space and letting the child's voice bounce of you, your mind drifting to the things you need to get done.

Other times, you are too busy and you don't feel like it but you force yourself for fear of upsetting your child, or in the hope of preventing a fight between siblings. Perhaps you are motivated by guilt and so not playing with your child feels like neglect.
But your heart is not in it. You are not all there. So is that wrong?

Many will tell you that it is good to let children figure out how to be resourceful and entertain themselves. Some children are really good at this, others not so. My youngest daughter (aged 11) still wants me to play dolls with her, or 'hide and go seek,' her all time favourite.

While my husband and I absolutely encouraged our three kids to play on their own, we decided that we would always make time to play with them if they asked us to.

We made this decision because to us, play is fundamental to learning. Play is the imagination at work. Play is developing ideas, utilizing one's creativity and most importantly of all, a chance to strengthen the bonds between ourselves and our children.

Our oldest daughter is now 14 and all through her life she has role played 'characters' from her favourite books. Starting from Winnie the Pooh:"Do you love your bear, Christopher Robin?" (guess who was CR?), to the Paper bag Princess (guess who was the Dragon?), to Thomas the Tank Engine (guess who was Sir Topham Hat or Diesel 10 the bad engine?) to Lord of the Rings; she, Frodo, I, Bilbo Baggins, Saruman, Orcs and so on and so forth, my daughter's imagination has been fired by books.
She no longer needs me to be a character in her play acting:now she wants me to look at the drawings shes creates (involving Artemis Fowl and Holly or the Manga series with Roy and Reesa).

She wants me to help her sew a costume for the upcoming Anime North event in Toronto.

Her father and I support her creativity by encouraging her with her writing. It's still play but now as she gets older, it's starting to get called 'work.'
I want to continue being part of my children's play as they move into young adulthood and feel honoured and happy when I am invited to participate. It's a wonderful way to develop strong relationships.

A Winter Walk Home

Here is a piece I wrote for my daughter a few years ago.
A Winter Walk Home.
By Beatrice Ekoko

Human child in fuscha pink coat. Your mother stands patiently, placidly by in well below zero temperature as you reach the summit of Snow Mountain, pass the Scourging Hot Deserts and back up the Mountain again.

“She must not look behind her, Mummy. Or she will fail!”

“She is doing it! So Mummy you must cheer for her.”

I cheer for her. I cheer for her all the way. You are on the peak of the Mountain again and the sun is so bright that it turns things into diamond- the treasure that you are after is glistening and sparkling all around you.

“She is brave Mummy. She never gives up.”

Yes she is. I admire her.

“Can I have my weapon now?” You ask me.

I hand you the long, thin piece of icicle, formed on and broken off a stationary car. It too glimmers like a fairy wand.

“She mustn’t look back mummy. If she does...If she does she will have to start all over again from the beginning. She must keep on the snow. So mummy can you look back for me?”

I can look back for you and in front for you. That is what I am good at. And if I see so much as a shadow approaching I will throttle what ever it may be.

The sound of a large machine being turned on outside the arena, startles you, momentarily stopping your adventure- or is this part of your adventure? “What was that?” you ask edging closer to me.

“It’s just the ice maker for the rink or something like that. Nothing to worry about.”

Your eyes search, looking for the source of the sound but your play draws you back, bigger and truer concerns urge you on, fulfilment of expectations joyfully self- imposed pull you back.

“With my weapon I can pierce someone’s tongue.”

Not mine I hope. Although my tongue pierces.

The weapon breaks and now we have two. “One for me and one for you.”

Together we continue, you the avant-garde, me on the side, witness to your progress.

A wall is covered with 3 inches of snow and now my daughter runs ahead her hand is trailing fast in the soft fluffiness, sprayed snow flying like mist over her and me. The pursuit is hot, the chase is now.

“She has looked back once. So she has lost one point!”

“Ah.”

The rules have changed. And will change again to meet the hero’s needs.

Your icicle drops again and breaks in three.

“Can we put them together?”

“No. But they are still beautiful”

“And we can get another,” you say, already over the loss.

“One I can use for a cane.”

“But it will break for sure!” I exclaim, then I regret it. You will find out for yourself how a delicate whim of nature is created for just a moment in time. How easily it breaks.

We reach home, the girl victorious. We must celebrate her. Alan, the janitor at the library told us earlier that day that if we spray a mist of hot water into the cold air outside, a shower of crystals will form on the mist’s descent. This is the proper way to honour a hero’s arrival.

Play-Verboten

I visited a grade 1 classroom (I was there to talk about energy conservation but I learned more from the children who were really aware of what it's all about). I was reminded again of why I never want to be an educator following compulsory curriculum-they interfere with natural rhythms of play and learning.

There's a lot of talk about play going around these days and how important it is for the development of our young into whole, healthy people.
Even old people benefit from play; we keep hearing that play constitutes part of a healthy life. Those who don't play have less imagination and less fun.
Common sense people already know this, but we prevent play from happening due to our over extended schedules (which we impose on little people).
In that classroom of bright and lively children, one little girl was not 'paying attention' for a minute. Instead she took a break to happily delve into a box of legos she'd taken down of a shelf.

"What do you think you are doing?" demanded one of the teachers in attendance. "Why are you playing with lego?"
The little girl sprang up looking down at her feet and in a guilty little voice replied, "I don't know."
From the back of the room the main teacher said loudly, "I've told you over an over not to play. You're already not going to the class party. You've already had one recess canceled and now you are going to have the other one canceled too. AND I'm going to write a note to your mother." The third adult in attendance nodded indignantly.
These teachers are good people I'm sure- at least they are going by the standards they know. My friend tells me a story about what happened at her daughter's school where the school teacher, on seeing the kids getting distracted by the first snows falling (a kindergarten class mind) rushed over to the windows and drew the curtains tight.
Kids are SUPPOSED to play. To get the point across, there is going to be a program on CTV March 14th on the need for play. Also see this article from Scientific America:

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-serious-need-for-play