My Connections to Play

"Play is our brain's favorite way of learning."
-Diane Ackerman, Contemporary American author

"Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity."
-Kay Redfield Jamison, Contemporary American professor of psychiatry

Essential play items for my younger self:

Barbie was the most essential play item for my younger self, I played with barbies every day most of my childhood. Barbies allowed me to use my imagination and come up with any scenario that I wanted to play.
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The next essential play item was my American Girl Doll if I wasn't playing with barbies, I was playing with American Girl Dolls.
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People supported my play by not interrupting my play, my family let me take over my living and make it barbie central. They encourage me to play with my toys and dolls, I was the youngest, so I think it was the easiest way to keep me entertained. They also allowed me to go to friends' houses or invite them over to play with my dolls. There were so many times where my living became a Barbie town with my best friend, and we would play in there for hours. They would just step over our town to get to the couch so that they could watch tv, but happily let us continue playing.

I think that play is different from when I was younger because technology is much bigger now, children get into technology at younger ages now. When I was younger technology was around, but a young child did not have a smart device, I didn't get my first smartphone until I was in high school. My hope for younger children and play is that they actually use and explore play and not just technology.

Play has had a big impact on my role in life, I use to pretend that my dolls were teachers, and now I am a teacher. I still like coming up with imaginary situations and playing them out in my head, but I think play as a young child definitely helped make me who I am today.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are important to me because life is hard, and it can get lonely, having those close relationships really help me get through the hard times. It is important to me that I have people that I can turn to and rely on in both the good and the bad times. The most important positive relationship that I have is my husband, I rely on him every single day. My husband is my main support system, and in order for it to work, we both have to contribute to it. We both need to be able to have open and honest communication with each other, even when it is hard. There are some days that I have to try harder to make our relationship work, while other days, he has to try harder. It can be a challenge when we are both sick and want the other person to take care of us, but they don't have the energy. Over the few years, we have been married, we are still learning each other and what works best for us, but at the end of every day, we know we love each other and always kiss goodnight. My husband has encouraged my education and career choices in the early childhood profession, he has never once told me I need to find a better job. He is there for me every step of the way and ready to support me in any way, including watching the baby while I do homework. There are some people who aren't supportive of this field, but thankfully he is and will continue to support me in every decision I make.