Thursday, May 31, 2007
"Putting Skinned Knees Back into Playtime"
There's been some happy buzz about arecent article in the New York Times in which Alex Williams writes about adults who are teaching children the bygone games of their youth - marbles, hopscotch, red rover, kickball. He writes: "They are spurred by concerns that a decline in traditional play robs the imagination and inhibits social interaction, by personal nostalgia, and by a desire to create a new bridge to connect generations — a bridge across both sides of the Nintendo gap."
The article (you need to be a subscriber to read it on line, is called "Putting Skinnned Knees Back into Playtime." I guess this is in contrast to the callused thumbs of X-Boxers.
The article concludes with a story about one mother, Sara Boettrick, who tried to follow this new trend with her daughter. "Ms. Boettrich admitted that she hadn’t seen the kids playing seven up, pickup sticks and jacks, and that she had since abandoned her attempts to spark a love of them in her daughter. She added, 'I think I had more fun than she did.'"
And I think therein lies the truth of this whole back-to-the-games-of-our-youth movement. We, as adults, want our children to learn the games of our childhood, because they are the games within which we can still find our youth. As for the youth of today, they are finding theirs in their games. And if it is truly our goal to help our children play, perhaps we should begin by asking them to teach us their games. Perhaps, if they let us play their games with them, we will better understand the fun of their youth, and better share with them the gifts of our maturity.
from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith
The article (you need to be a subscriber to read it on line, is called "Putting Skinnned Knees Back into Playtime." I guess this is in contrast to the callused thumbs of X-Boxers.
The article concludes with a story about one mother, Sara Boettrick, who tried to follow this new trend with her daughter. "Ms. Boettrich admitted that she hadn’t seen the kids playing seven up, pickup sticks and jacks, and that she had since abandoned her attempts to spark a love of them in her daughter. She added, 'I think I had more fun than she did.'"
And I think therein lies the truth of this whole back-to-the-games-of-our-youth movement. We, as adults, want our children to learn the games of our childhood, because they are the games within which we can still find our youth. As for the youth of today, they are finding theirs in their games. And if it is truly our goal to help our children play, perhaps we should begin by asking them to teach us their games. Perhaps, if they let us play their games with them, we will better understand the fun of their youth, and better share with them the gifts of our maturity.
from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith
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