My Connections to Play

Quotes about what play meant to me in my childhood

“Life is more fun if you play games.” 
― Roald Dahl, My Uncle Oswald

“We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything, than when we are at play.” 
― Charles E. Schaefer

Essential play items during my childhood

                              

I remember that I loved to play when I was younger.  I used to stay at my mom’s friend’s house after school, my mother would pick me up hours later after she was done with work.  Her friend had two sons, one was one year older than me and the other was two years younger than me.  A soon as I got to their house I would quickly finish my homework and we would all play for the rest of the evening.  We often played soccer, football and cricket but sometimes we would play hide and seek or just make up games on our own.  Play gave me a sense of freedom, it was exhilarating and helped me to be more vocal.

I think play today is much different than it was years ago when I was younger.  I used to play outdoors much more than I see children nowadays doing.  Most of my play involved popular sports from my country like football (soccer) and cricket.  I also played a lot with other children at school and within my community.  It seems that nowadays many children play a lot of videogames and computer games by themselves or with their friends, they also watch a lot of television and do not seem to play outside as often as I did.

I think play was important especially since I was the only child for my mother.  At home I mostly played by myself but I had friends within my community who I would play with sometimes.  At school play helped me to come out of my shell and interact with other children.  It also helped me to step outside of my comfort zone.  Play helped me to enjoy every minute of my childhood. I always enjoyed the age I was and enjoyed learning more complex games as I grew older. As I grew into adulthood play helped me to relax, de-stress and get to know other people.