“Children are deeply curious about odd behaviors and seldom offended or worried by them. What a remarkable gift to bestow on another person, it occurs to me, and so difficult for adults to accomplish.”
― Vivian Gussin Paley, The Kindness of Children
“Pretend" often confuses the adult, but it is the child's real and serious world, the stage upon which any identity is possible and secret thoughts can be safely revealed.”
― Vivian Gussin Paley, The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter
Toys from the 80s!!!!!
When I was a child, my parents encouraged my siblings and I to be outdoors as much as possible. We did not own video games and i do not even think we had cable television. I can remember my sister and cousins building campsites, and turning old tires into spaceships, and riding our bikes with the long seats, pretending they were school buses and giving each other rides to school.
My mom would always bring worksheets home from her school that were left over from the year she taught, my dad would always keep us stocked up on pencils and crayons which my sister and I used to teach our stuffed animals!
In today's play the similarities I see would have to be the interactive video games that encourage children to move, dance, and jump. I also see games that encourage some level of cognitive thinking, and board games such as; Operation, which uses fine motor. I see a huge difference of outside play in today's society, because technology is so popular, thus leaves less time for outdoor exploration. The toys today encourage a lot more fighting and competition, (which competition can be healthy) and also television shows sometimes interrupt children's views of what is real and who is the good/bad character. When I was younger my siblings and I used our imaginations a lot, we would develop our own singing groups, we would pretend to be teachers, and community helpers, I believe this was so because we had very little exposure to television.
Cynthia,
ReplyDeleteI love the toys that you posted, I never had a Teddy Ruxpin of my own but I sure remember playing with him a lot in my younger years. Wow what memories seeing him brought back for me. The robot, what is his name? I have drawn a blank, but I remember him too! I strongly agree with you that technology is to blame as one of the reasons that children are not getting the outdoor play time.
Randee
Cynthia,
ReplyDeleteI recognized the toys you posted. It is lovely to hear that you would teach your stuffed animals. It is a perfect example of pretend play, and look how you remember it so fondly.
It is lovely to hear about you playing board games, which is becoming rare these days.
Zeina
Hello Cynthia,
ReplyDeleteI remember Teddy Ruspkin, I don't know if I spelled it right, but I never fortunate enough to have one, my parents and I grew up in a poor environment financially, even though we were rich in love and other values. I remember the robot too, didn't have one of those either. We as a family were more into the outdoors things, like jumping double dutch, playing kickball, and different games like hide and go seek. I really enjoy looking and reading your blog. It seems as if you had a wonderful childhood.