The Importance of the Playground
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by: andrewbeene
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Word Count: 519
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 Time: 12:49 PM
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Many people including myself strongly believe that play time is integral for the primary formation of the skills and attitudes as well as cognitive development during the formative years of a child or a toddler. If you study nature closely, you will find that most if not all mammal neonates and developing young develop and reinforce their skills and techniques for later use in life during playtime with a sibling or a similarly aged peer in an animal group or collection.
I remember playing in residential playground equipment as a child myself during my early years and in retrospect, I have noticed events in the playground and my reactions to different specific situations remain consistent all throughout my life growing as a teenager and then finally as an adult. For example, playing in some playground equipment when I was about 6 years old, I got into an altercation with some other kids that I have never met before. Because of the reinforcement of values and attitudes that I got from my parents, I acted in a relatively civilized manner and let them have a go at the swing set accessories without protest even though I felt at the time that it was not fair that they should interrupt my turn at the swing set equipment and with the fact that they did not exactly ask nicely. While some might observe that the course of action that I took was more subordinate and cowardly, which also carries a bit of truth to it, I defend my actions with the explanation that I did what I did because this is what I thought was right at the time. More interestingly, this event established my reactions in similar altercations and disputes further in my life. To put it simply, that one day playing in some playground accessories set the precedent for my actions as I grew older.
In hindsight, I have observed that once you reach adulthood, your mental faculties are developed enough that you learn to control you impulses and emotions or at least keep them in check and sometimes the precedent you have set for yourself during your formative years can be overturned and replaced with new values and attitudes later learned in life. That is to say that these events and the attitudes they establish in an individual through stimulus whether they be positive or negative in their formative years are not permanent although they do set a precedent that one eventually follows for a long time. These established notions can be changed through experiencing different scenarios and reacting differently or in some cases, by sheer force of will. As we go on in the different paths in our lives, it helps to get closure on negative moments and put these behind us so that we can function more fully in our current situations as adults.
About the Author
Backyard Play Places is a company selling residential playground equipment. For more information, please visit the website at http://www.backyardplayplaces.com
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