It's time to Play!!

My mom gave me more freedom when I was younger than when I was a teenager, believe that!  I remember always being outside playing.  She never had to tell me to go do something or to stop complaining about being bored, I just never was!  I was also an only child which I believe led to my ability to entertain myself so readily, to that I can also thank her.  A neighbor of mine was building a home next door and before the bottom half had been built there were mounds of dirt inside.  He would come by frequently to check on things but told my friends and I that we could ride our bikes on the hills if we wanted.  I’m sure glad he said that because we spent all the time we could riding around pretending to do tricks and making the mounds into shopping centers, restaurants, even houses! 

I had store bought toys but what really fascinated me and kept my attention was being outside and taking in anything I could get to grow an imagination off of.  My friends and I would gloriously make mud hamburgers and soups, we’d find sticks to throw as darts, we’d catch crayfish in the stream behind our houses, and we’d spend all day in the woods pretending to be explorers.

I’m very saddened by how play today has been downgraded to having to be entertained.  Part of the problem is the crime rate and the fear of losing a child to kidnapping, etc.  But another part of it is the gaming systems, the television, toys that require a high price tag because of the brand name they are sporting, but really don’t involve a wide array of play.  I want to and I hope I can still find my imagination somewhere to make better places in our own yard for my daughter to discover things. 

I think play in my life helped me gain confidence and a great fondness for nature.  I gained the confidence by playing with the other children and sharing ideas that they also liked and bounced off ideas from.  I gained confidence because I could jump over plants and I could make the greatest mud pie ever, so I felt good and accomplished.  I wasn’t being tested on how to perfectly hop a mound of dirt on my bike, it was just the fact that I tried and I lived up to my own expectations, not anyone else’s.  That is what made me happy and grow. 

Today I am fascinated about the things I used to do.  Now, I ride a bike pulling my daughter in a child bike trailer and I feel like I might die of heat and never make it over the next hill.  But as a child I could ride my bike for hours and not get tired!  We all lose something along the way called spirit and commitment to ourselves.  Suddenly a company requires our full attention and we must give to pay the light bill.  Too much seriousness too fast I think.   

 “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” Plato

“If animals play, this is because play is useful in the struggle for survival; because play practices and so perfects the skills needed in adult life” Susanna Miller

Relationship Reflection

Relationships to me mean that I am never alone.  I have great neighbors, friends, and an ability to provoke conversations and talk with strangers.  Relationships and partnerships provide a structure of guidance and trust.  To build a relationship is to be human and to be social.  In companies the word far more used would be partnerships, but these partnerships help companies to gain profit and to learn from product production and if in other countries, differences in economy, language, and how to do business successfully. 

I have a positive relationship with an old friend, an ex-boss, and my neighbor, just to name a few.  My old friend and I have been able to keep in touch through emailing and family outings.  We remember to check in with each other and care about what the other is going through.  She is very supportive of me and my decisions and I of her.  The thing we have learned to do best is to listen.  My ex-boss has become a welcomed ally.  I have proven my work ethic to her and she believes in my abilities.  This has strengthened my confidence in my work performance as well as creating a bond between what we both believe to be right and how we can better ourselves professionally.  Since she has trained me it also benefits her to see me perform well.  Our relationship has remained strong due to our knack of striving for more.  I see that my relationship with my ex-boss can be considered a partnership because if I plan to get back into her line of work I can use her as a reference.  I can also seek professional guidance from her and mature understanding.  My neighbors and my family were not always so friendly.  We started out being unsure of each other due to strong differences in religious beliefs.  This relationship I believe means the most because of the trying times we had but were willing to work around them.  Now my neighbors are first to be called when we need a hand, to borrow something, and just help with anything.  We have realized the kindness of friendship and the importance of having someone to trust and be considerate of you. 

A challenge that I had personally that many may have had as well is with a relative.  It feels more forced when it’s a relative that you must get along with, however, it doesn’t mean that you must like each other just that you act civil.  Ironically enough, this person that I had an issue with was my mother-in-law.  We are from different backgrounds and it was very hard for us to understand each other.  It seems that I also wanted to impress her so much that I would end up getting carried away and look like a fool.  In her eyes, I was taking away her “baby boy” and I never stopped and took the time to realize that.  If I had of been able to put myself in her shoes, I could have saved us years of ignoring and bickering.  I could have been the bigger person and stopped the charade. 

I feel this is kind of like how educators and caregivers for children feel towards parents and some families in general.  Perhaps we don’t see how hard it is and just how stressful it is for a family to drop off their little one into the big world of preschool or kindergarten.  We also don’t recognize some cultures, or races, and may be wary of how to act.  If we focus too much on how we are supposed to act or be perceived I feel that it will be assumed as an act that we are putting on.

My mother-in-law and I were able to get over our hump by being approachable.  My mother-on-law had developed a common theme about me and when she realized it wasn’t true she was able to accept me and listen to what I had to say.  Now we joke and get along great.  I only wish we hadn’t of wasted so much time.