Youth, Children’s Work and Play
I come from the viewpoint that youth and children’s work is important, even as important as school and education. It’s a different kind of education. Letting young people be themselves without the constrictions that school and educational settings place on them to conform or any pressures to learn. Seeing each young person not just as being unique, but understanding they are developing their own identities and sense of self. And how valuable and lasting childhood experiences can be.
It is about creating a space, physical and/or mental where a young person is allowed to be themself. A space they can unwind, with no pressure to meet the expectations of others, be that peers, teachers, parents, etc.
Children are not things to be molded but are people to be unfolded.
Jess Lair
Central to this is the value of play. Play goes beyond the description of a type of activity a whole philosophy surrounds it. It cannot be stressed enough how important play is to children and young people. Proper play is letting children develop their own play with minimal intervention from an adult. It’s about the exploration of ideas, development of skills, physical, mental, social. It’s about invention, adaptation, repetition, engagement, imagination, reality, etc. The list goes on…
“We used to think that schools built brains. Now we know that it is play that builds the brains that school can use.”
Dr Gordon Neufeld in ‘Keys to Well-Being in Children’, European Union Parliament. Brussels. 13 Nov 2012.
Over my years in youth work, I developed a very good knowledge of various formal games for children and youth work and currently share this via funandgames.org, which I founded in 1999. However, while formal/organised games have an important place to play in youth and children’s work, the intention here is not to repeat the work of funandgames.org, but to explore the concept of play, it’s importance and how it’s almost integral to youth and children’s work.
If there’s something I’ve not written about and you want to know about, drop me a line or comment 🙂
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It’s fairly easy to define play, or is it? “Play: any spontaneous or organized activity that provides enjoyment, entertainment, amusement, or diversion” Oxford Reference, Oxford University Press What about… “Play…