My connections to play

"Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed."
- Maria Montessori

"Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn."

O. Fred Donaldson
Contemporary American martial arts master

I love these quotes especially the first one because I see so many times parents and teachers help children rather than letting them try first and having them work through the steps themselves. There are also many times I struggle with not letting my perfectionism affect letting the children make crafts and do projects. 

I grew up with two older sisters and two older brothers on a farm. We spent most of our time playing outside. My parents did not want us spending all our time watching television so there were several times I can remember growing up that our TV "broke", but would magically start working when the news came on. 

This is so different than children today because many children spend their time watching television or playing with their phones or iPods. I think this robs children of their creativity and problem solving skills. When my husband's niece came to live with us she had not idea what to do if we told her no TV or iPod. She also struggles to think through problems because the only games she plays are with technology. Technology is a wonderful invention, but it is relied upon too heavily and our children are suffering. Play is when children learn to cooperate with others and use their imagination. It also teaches them persistence and helps promote thinking. Playing with toys is so important to future success in school.     

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are important because people help support you, encourage you, and help you grow. This summer my mom passed away and without the support of my husband, my siblings, and my friends I would not have gotten through. I am lucky to be very close to all my siblings and they are the ones I call when I need help. My sisters have really helped me since having my daughter because they were able to share their experience with me when I was having problems. However, since my husband is military we live 14 hours away from my family so I have had to work to maintain the bonds with my family through phone calls and Skype. This is also true for my friends that live far away. Without communication the relationship fades away so there are some friends that I am no longer close to because due to different work and family schedules we have not been able to communicate enough to stay close.

I have also learned there are many challenges to building a relationship. Since I am a military spouse I have had to move to a different area twice and each time it was hard meeting people. I am a naturally shy person and have trouble starting conversations with people. This has made it hard making friends because I have had to step outside of my comfort zones several times in order to make friends.

My husband and I have a special relationship in that we are equals working towards a common goal that we have for our family. This requires constant communication and compromise because we are different people who have very different perspectives sometime. Because we have common bonds with our daughter there is not the option of letting the relationship fade. Even in times of disagreement we must work together to find a solution and remember our love for each other.

Reflecting on my relationships with family and friends reminds that we have relationships with our coworkers and families we serve and we much work as partners to meet our common goal of helping children. There will be times we disagree with coworkers and families, however because we are partners we need to use effective communication and work through the problem. If we are not able to do this then we will lose the support and experience from our coworkers and lose the respect from our families. Without all these we will not be effective in our positions.