A child is playing and nothing else exists for her in that moment. Few adults can give such attention to their immediate situation, so willingly, for so long. And it is real work.
Play enables the child to live into a whole world. It is a world of her own making which borders on to the world we think is the real world. Through manifold creative acts the child pushes back these boundaries, to increasingly inhabit the world we know but all too often have forgotten how to understand. Play is a participatory pathway into the reality of this so-called real world.
A child playing is ordering the world. Play is an experiment into the nature of reality. Things are either obedient to her imagination, or not. Play is a brave adventure into the possibilities and limitations of things. It is the true basis of problem-solving.
A child playing is discovering her relationship to the world. The encounter refects back into her developing sense of self.
A child playing is working out real situations. Play brings these situations into a coherent narrative that makes sense. In the world of play any thing can become anything. And everything. There is nothing missing within the whole world of play. It is always as minimal and elaborate as necessary. It is what it is.
A child is playing. Our responsibility as adults is to protect and nurture this world of play, this realm in which anything is possible. Which leads to everything that works…
[The new issue of { parent-theses } on the theme of Creative Play is now available]
[The new issue of { parent-theses } on the theme of Creative Play is now available]
