"My Connections to Play"

We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. George Bernard Shaw

Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable. Without it, life just doesn’t taste good. Lucia Capocchione

The way that my family supported play when we were younger was very rewarding, my parents allowed us to play outside as much as we wanted.  They encouraged us to role play, especially with dolls, dishes, bikes and books.  We weren't allowed to spend most of our time sitting in front of the television set because this was unhealthy.  We climbed trees and picked black berries. 

Today, play is very different than when my siblings and I were young.  Today, you have the majority of the young children sitting in front of a computer playing games, in front of the television playing games and becoming couch potatoes.  Even when my own children were young, I would encourage them to play outside, get all that energy they had stored out of their system.  This helped them in not being overweight children, kept them active and healthy.

By choosing the two quotes, I feel that it expresses how I feel about play in our lives.  It is true that we don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.  We should relax and not take life too serious all the time, we should allow for some fun time in our lives in order to live a healthy life.  It is also true that without play, life just doesn't taste good because again, we don't allow ourselves to enjoy the good things in life, especially play.  We are as old as we make ourselves feel.  My co-workers always mention that I don't look or act my age, and I truly believe it is because I make sure that I add a playful flavor to my existence and I try to encourage my children and grandchildren to do the same.

"Human relationships, and the effects of relationships on relationships, are the building blocks of healthy development" (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000, p. 4).   I am a single mother of 4 children (all of them are adults now) and with the help of my immediate family I was able to raise them.  Damian (my oldest) has always been the mature child and always there when I ran into problems with the younger ones, Gabriel (my second oldest) was the one demanding most of my attention when he was a teenager, Jessica (my only daughter) is my best friend, she is the one who takes care of me when I am ill, and my youngest, Adrian, is the one who has given me the most challenges, even as an adult.  The relationship I have with my children has been very meaningful because I have always had an open relationship with them.  I made sure that I was conscious of their needs and tried to not be judgmental whenever they did something they weren’t supposed to.  To me, a relationship has to be open, caring, respectful of each other, be there in case of emergencies, have an open heart and yet not be dominant.  I thank my parents for the background they provided me with and taught me and my siblings to tackle every problem instead of giving up and not finding a solution.  I come from a large family (9 girls and 3 boys) and we were raised that we gave each other the space we needed, however, to be there whenever one of us needed help. 

 

I think that some of the special characteristics that make up these relationships are that we must be caring, respectful, loving, dependable, be a good listener.  A healthy relationship builds self-esteem and good social skills in our lives.  A healthy relationship also helps us out with our own health, our blood pressure will be lower, risk of heart problems will be minimized and our overall healthy outlook will improve.

 

My experiences with relationships/partnerships might, including my ability to be an active, reflective contributor,  will impact my work as an effective early childhood professional by preparing me to be a better listener and this in turn will produce more effective work from my co-workers.  I have good communication skills and am very good in the area of customer service.  I treat parents we work with as if I was the parent at the other end of the phone line.  I try very hard to have an open mind and agree with the parent and try to link them up with the best possible resource they are needing.