"PLAY is the work of Childhood" -Jean Piaget

As a faculty staff member at the Boys and Girls Club in Providence, one of my many responsibilities is to maintain a safe and friendly environment for all participants by following protocols and regulations. But sometimes these rules (created and established by the upper people) can put a toll on youth.

For instance, dodge-ball has been a prohibited sport in the organization for a number of years. However, the game is heavily popular in our particular club site.  Our kids beg and cheer for dodge-ball to be played in the gym. According to Shall We Play? written by Henry Jenkins, "Play is not disguised learning; play is learning," which is absolutely true. By my observations, during game rounds I have noticed that kids develop teamwork, confidence, independence, resilience, but most importantly, they have F-U-N. Sure, kids get pounded by rubber red balls but they immediately 'bounce' back. Kids are curious and enjoy to be physically challenged especially by friends. In Risks and Childhood, I heard the term "lawsuits," and that is exactly why activities such as dodge-ball are not allowed. I can't tell you how many times I have been told, "Oh, we can't do that because of liability." It not only limits the activities that I would LOVE to introduce to my kids, but it also limits them to see what PLAY can really be like.

Comments

  1. Jacob SSeptember 21, 2017 at 4:25 PM

    Hey! I like how you brought up dodgeball and that was one of my favorite games as a kid and we started using the soft gator balls but it was still fun!

    ReplyDelete

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