Monday 13 October 2008

KIDS IN THE CITY
























People are scared, parents worry, not without cause, the news is not good...
To see children play outside, in the city, is a rare sight now! The streets have gone silent.
Sometimes you get lucky, you'll hear the laughter or tears that come with the joys of having fun with your neighbours instead of just with your brothers and sisters.
Some are still not allowed out, so often they look out their window... so sad.
Sometimes you might as well help mum hang up the wash, if only that line was not so high, lol.


I've often observed these kids from the studio, they are well behaved, somehow they seem to have a preference for that ONE derelict backyard, I wonder what the attraction is?
It's not easy growing up these days, it's not easy growing up in the city these days...

And yet, it is so important for the social skills which people need to interact and communicate with others. Social rules and relations are created, communicated, and changed in verbal and nonverbal ways. The process of learning these skills is called socialisation.
To better develop socially, emotionally and cognitively, children need plenty of free, unstructured play- in other words, lots of old- fashioned free playtime!

Professor Tina Bruce has said that ‘Play cannot be pinned down, and turned into a product of measurable learning. This is because play is a process [which] enables a holistic kind of learning, rather than fragmented learning’ (in Ward, 1998: 22, 24; see House, 1999).
It is often said that play is, paradoxically, a very serious business indeed. One reason why this might be so is strikingly described by David Elkind: ‘Play' is young children’s only defense against the many real or imagined attacks and slights they encounter…

There should be more 'child-safe' areas in the cities, it would benefit the parents too, we are ALL become too solitary.
DO YOU KNOW YOUR neighbours?

I think, that we should live with care, but NOT WITH AND IN FEAR?

I decided to start yet another series, I find it interesting, it will be ongoing for some time I suspect, lol.

Thanx for your visit and comments, always appreciated, M, (*_*)

2 comments:

Silvia said...

In only two days I'm already appreciating you very much. This post is very dear to my heart. I loved the pictures, and your words. I have much of the same thoughts about play, and how important it is for them specially at the early stages in their life. Playing is how they learn, no with those meaningless drills that they do at school. I'm a former teacher who stays home to my two daughters, and it kills me seeing children locked in schools when they could be playing outdoors, and learning to interact with each other, and to discover nature and animals...
I have a playdate every Monday for the girls, it is not the same as playing carefree, but there is a good number of chidren, and they are from our congregation, so i have a good relationship with their moms and dads.
I live in a Houston suburbia, and as I'm typing this, i'm looking through the window, and it is a rainny day, streets are totally empty, not just in the morning, mostly all the time.
I know my neighbors, i like the family to our right, the one to the left, and the immediate ones in front, they don't have children.
I agree with you, and i refuse to live in FEAR. However i contemplate how children around have lost or have not being taught any morals by their parents, and i see them walking sometimes, dress up horribly, using disgusting language, and with a very 'poor' attitude.

Silvia said...

In only two days I'm already appreciating you very much. This post is very dear to my heart. I loved the pictures, and your words. I have much of the same thoughts about play, and how important it is for them specially at the early stages in their life. Playing is how they learn, no with those meaningless drills that they do at school. I'm a former teacher who stays home to my two daughters, and it kills me seeing children locked in schools when they could be playing outdoors, and learning to interact with each other, and to discover nature and animals...
I have a playdate every Monday for the girls, it is not the same as playing carefree, but there is a good number of chidren, and they are from our congregation, so i have a good relationship with their moms and dads.
I live in a Houston suburbia, and as I'm typing this, i'm looking through the window, and it is a rainny day, streets are totally empty, not just in the morning, mostly all the time.
I know my neighbors, i like the family to our right, the one to the left, and the immediate ones in front, they don't have children.
I agree with you, and i refuse to live in FEAR. However i contemplate how children around have lost or have not being taught any morals by their parents, and i see them walking sometimes, dress up horribly, using disgusting language, and with a very 'poor' attitude.