"My Connections to Play-Get Out and Play!'

Sweet childish days, that were as long As twenty days are now. ~William Wordsworth, "To a Butterfly Childhood is a promise that is never kept. ~Ken Hill As a child, my Daddy was the parent that took me outside to play. He said it would help me rest better at night. My Mom was not really an outside person. When I did go outside, I would just sit around and watch the cars go by. I was not too physical, because I did not have anybody that was my age around. I was the baby and all of my siblings had been gone alone time. Even now as an adult I am not an outside person, but I go outside to help my children with their physical activity and to explore different things in their surroundings. Today’s children do not even know how to play the tradition outside games such as: kick ball, freeze tag, or hide and see. The neighborhood children come over to my house sometimes to play with my 9 year old son, and they are usually just standing around outside. I suggested one day that they play freeze tag and they all looked at me like I was speaking another language. The only freeze tag that they know about is on a TV screen. The type of playing that children do today involves a TV, console, and game stick; my Son included. I try to make him go outside doing the week and I limit his gaming hours. The lack of physical activity is one of the leading causes of childhood obesity. We also have adults who play the different games a lot and the children are watching them. We as adults, parents, and educators need to stress the importance of physical activity and playing to learn. When children go outside, they are exposed to a lot of different learning tools. They can talk about the weather, the animals, and many other things. My other boys (1 and 3) enjoy being outside more than my oldest son. I guess, because they have not been “sucked in” by the gaming world yet. When I was a child, I do not remember to many activities on social play. It is a play that I see as a necessity now. Social play helps a child to find their personality and become familiar with other people. I have seen that when a child goes to daycare, they have better social skills and they are not shy people. Having good social skills will help a child be a better student academically.