Lets begin at the end.
"Children need not play". They have better things to do. Play as in todays context is destructive to children and society.
The moment this thought occured, i thought, may be i have lost all faculty of mind and got insane. A few moments later, once the distrubances in neural connections gradually settled down, realization started to dawn.
Now lets move on to the beginning.
"Once I complete my work, my teacher allows me to play. so i complete my work as fast as i can and go on to play". This was a casual statement from my daughter when she was some 6 years old. This happened atleast 2 years ago.
"Toys, reading books, listening to stories are not a must for children". A statement made by a minimalist and mother of 2 while sharing her experience. This happened a few months ago.
The above 2 incidences got registered in my mind. Without any prejudice or judgement.
A few weeks back, during a workshop with children, i happened to notice that the children were longing and waiting for a break... Felt bad for not being able to motivate and handle a group of them. May be i should find a way of making things interesting. maybe integrate play within the session. so many ideas...
As usual, with a worried mind and a not so sound a sleep, the first statement that flashed through my mind when i woke up was "Children need not play". Why? I asked my mind. Brain and Mind got into a war to justify this statement.
A few seconds later, the mind proposes the following.
In the earlier days of human evolution, children would just observe and repeat what theirs parents did. May be explore a little bit beyond that.
There was no concept of gathering food and staying in a specific place. It was a nomadic lifestyle. So, life was a play and every day would be new.
Children had to learn to feed themselves. They grow up and the cycle repeats.
Now that we have become gatherers and better still parents gather enough and more for the child until the age of 20 or even to the age of 30. some times more. for the child.
So. There is no challenge for the child. Boredom sets in. Parents are too preoccupied with their own jobs. The jobs are too varied in nature (it was just basic survival skills that humans needed in the earlier days). The child does not have enough experince to understand what career to choose. Workplaces are different for parents and often not possible to work as a family. No more joint families...
The way out to keep children occupied. Ask them to play. There is the opportunity knocking on the doors of commerical world. Sell them bats, balls rings, software games.... create competetion among them.. break the unity. In the name of expressing their passion towards the game, the eyeball industry sets in. The Televisions and digital content glue (gravity of photons) them to the chairs. The spice of advertisements promote packed food. That food takes them to the noble practitioners of medicine. Expense of time, money and health for the family and child; all along the commercial chain.
In the process, energy is drained sufficiently and there would no room for productive work. What a beautiful way to end up in slavery. Not even realizing the process of enslavement.
What is the way out?
Lifestyle change. Minimalism and Sustainable living practices may be adopted so that humanity would be humane and leave minimal footprint on this earth.
I hear people quote the famous poet Bharathiyar. To my kowledge, the great poet would not have thought of competition and winning. The play as he means would be for fitness of body and mind. May be he saw this coming..
"Children need not play". They have better things to do. Play as in todays context is destructive to children and society.
The moment this thought occured, i thought, may be i have lost all faculty of mind and got insane. A few moments later, once the distrubances in neural connections gradually settled down, realization started to dawn.
Now lets move on to the beginning.
"Once I complete my work, my teacher allows me to play. so i complete my work as fast as i can and go on to play". This was a casual statement from my daughter when she was some 6 years old. This happened atleast 2 years ago.
"Toys, reading books, listening to stories are not a must for children". A statement made by a minimalist and mother of 2 while sharing her experience. This happened a few months ago.
The above 2 incidences got registered in my mind. Without any prejudice or judgement.
A few weeks back, during a workshop with children, i happened to notice that the children were longing and waiting for a break... Felt bad for not being able to motivate and handle a group of them. May be i should find a way of making things interesting. maybe integrate play within the session. so many ideas...
As usual, with a worried mind and a not so sound a sleep, the first statement that flashed through my mind when i woke up was "Children need not play". Why? I asked my mind. Brain and Mind got into a war to justify this statement.
A few seconds later, the mind proposes the following.
In the earlier days of human evolution, children would just observe and repeat what theirs parents did. May be explore a little bit beyond that.
There was no concept of gathering food and staying in a specific place. It was a nomadic lifestyle. So, life was a play and every day would be new.
Children had to learn to feed themselves. They grow up and the cycle repeats.
Now that we have become gatherers and better still parents gather enough and more for the child until the age of 20 or even to the age of 30. some times more. for the child.
So. There is no challenge for the child. Boredom sets in. Parents are too preoccupied with their own jobs. The jobs are too varied in nature (it was just basic survival skills that humans needed in the earlier days). The child does not have enough experince to understand what career to choose. Workplaces are different for parents and often not possible to work as a family. No more joint families...
The way out to keep children occupied. Ask them to play. There is the opportunity knocking on the doors of commerical world. Sell them bats, balls rings, software games.... create competetion among them.. break the unity. In the name of expressing their passion towards the game, the eyeball industry sets in. The Televisions and digital content glue (gravity of photons) them to the chairs. The spice of advertisements promote packed food. That food takes them to the noble practitioners of medicine. Expense of time, money and health for the family and child; all along the commercial chain.
In the process, energy is drained sufficiently and there would no room for productive work. What a beautiful way to end up in slavery. Not even realizing the process of enslavement.
What is the way out?
Lifestyle change. Minimalism and Sustainable living practices may be adopted so that humanity would be humane and leave minimal footprint on this earth.
I hear people quote the famous poet Bharathiyar. To my kowledge, the great poet would not have thought of competition and winning. The play as he means would be for fitness of body and mind. May be he saw this coming..
Usage of the term PHOTON GRAVUTY made the day.. great going .. but a literarian needs more..
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