This is not just play, this is Summerhill play…

I stole this from their Summerhill Facepuke page

🤩 PLAY 🤩

At Summerhill, play belongs to the child. We do not dress up learning situations so that the play will be “productive”, we do not look on and evaluate what they might learn form this or that game. Our children just play — and they can do it pretty well all day if they want to.

Of course sometimes things go wrong during play. Sometimes people get into conflict. This is part of being a child. There are structures in place that protect the rights of each of us and there are big kids or adults who can help you out if needed. You are also encouraged to deal with a lot of it yourself. You cannot always have a ‘nanny’ to look after you and solve your problems in life.

Sometimes play can lead to other interests. You might start off by making a sword in the woodwork and then decide you want to make something more… you may mess around on the old school piano and then find that you want to make music… you might help out with the class 1 shop and find that you want to learn more Maths, or make a big bang in Science and then sign up for Biology. There are so many areas for inspiration and enjoyment.

That enjoyment will last you a lifetime — if you have never had bad experiences of learning, then you will become a life long learner and take joy in what you do.

Whichever way you look at it – at Summerhill, play means play and belongs entirely to you.

#asneillsummerhill #asneill #play #freeplay #freerangekidsuk #school #summerhill #summerhillschool

Playworker nudges #1

GBS, clever bloke. Easily the rival of Oscar Wilde or GK Chesterton (who we’re told to cancel coz he was racist, or rather he lived in racist times, eh Wendy Russell).

So anyway he said this….

Now, we are told that children have a right to play and we’re told that they need play, blublah, but consider this…

I noticed in my playwork that some kids want to help. They want to do jobs. You must’ve seen that.

Children like work!

I’ll never forget a little shit called Sean, aged 6 manfully (oo sexist) helping his dad ( who just turned up one day to help the ‘Vencha’) do hard physical work, specifically digging foundations and mixing concrete by hand for our new hut. Then he got bored and defaulted to throwing stones at things, mainly humans, big and small. His dad’s suggestion that I box his ears was not helpful. Whereas his older brother, aged 8, was like a pack horse, carrying huge concrete brick thingies all day, and genuinely assisting the building (Where is Channel 4’s Kevin Wossname when you need him?We shudov been featured on Grand Designs. I digress.)

Children like work!

They like achieving things. Sometimes gluing macaroni to sugar paper isn’t enough, FFS.

Comments please!

Screen Playing – Penny Wilson

https://theinternationale.com/pennywilson/2020/05/01/screen-playing/

This is glorious.

If you understand anything about play you will understand that children’s play is the mechanism by which we become human (Battram, Eastbourne play conference 201x).

If you have any interest in the development of humans, you owe it to yourself to download the free PDFs in the right hand margin.

OUR BOYS ARE NOW AT GREATER RISK THAN GIRLS. By Dottie Lamm

http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/boys-now-greater-risk-girls/

Sobering, eye-opening article. Also, of course, true of the UK. Here is an edited summary of the data:

” • EDUCATION: This is the first generation of boys in U.S. history who will have less education than their dads.

Yet male teachers are scarce. Recess and vocational education are being curtailed.

Boys are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, drop out of school or be expelled than girls.///

• FATHERLESSNESS: A third of boys are raised in fatherless homes. This lack of a dad leads to poorer academic and behavioral results for them than it does for girls. A recent study of boys revealed that by the third grade, boys with absent fathers scored lower on every achievement test.

Most gang members come from homes without dads.

• EMOTIONAL HEALTH: Depression remains hidden in boys because of the male taboo against the showing of feelings.

Boys’ risky, anti-social or violent behavior often serve as a mask for depression. Usually that behavior is punished but the underlying depression not treated.

Between the ages of 13 and 20, BOYS’ SUICIDE RATES SOAR TO FOUR TIMES THAT of girls of the same age.”

provocation #3 ‘Why oh why did this happen, can you see what it is yet?’ (file under: contentious and and half-baked) | LinkedIn

An occasional series of provocations for management thinkers.

May contain elements of offense.

(File under: contentious and and half-baked)

provocation #3

 

 

WHY OH WHY DID THIS HAPPEN, CAN YOU SEE WHAT IT IS YET?

NB: My target here is managerialism, not committed, ethical, hard-working public sector employees and elected representatives.

Rearrange these into the correct order:

1. Give police targets determined by politicians, and managers subservient to them

2. Import managerialism into the public sector

3. Destroy the multi use approach to city and town street life – thanks planners, abandoning the streets after 8pm to ne’er-do-wells, clubbers, drunks, and the poor and desperate.

4. Think it clever to save social services budgets a few quid by buying cheap places in care homes for vulnerable kids in depressed towns like Rochdale.

5. Close your children’s homes and allow the market to create cheap children’s homes in low cost areas.

6. Send vulnerable kids half-way across the country

7. Don’t see children and youth as valid members of society with needs, rights, and AGENCY, so don’t cater for their leisure and affiliation needs

8. Rack up business rates so that only poverty-level wages for fast-food work are viable in town centres.

9. Prioritise car theft, based on public complaint, over missing children who don’t complain because they don’t matter (“scrubbers” anonymous policeman, BBC Radio 4 Friday, September 12, 2014 13:37).

 

That was a trick question: there isn’t an order only a pattern.

Then wonder why the Rochdale Child Abuse Scandal.

Discuss. Use both sides of the argument and the brain.

 

_____________Footnote

if you find this offensive is it less or more offensive than the Rochdale Child Abuse Scandal?

via provocation #3 ‘Why oh why did this happen, can you see what it is yet?’ (file under: contentious and and half-baked) | LinkedIn.

KIND THINKER OUT IN THE WORLD: an elegy for Perry Else

KIND THINKER OUT IN THE WORLD

 

Kind thinker, out in

the world, away 

from the white towers; 

down by the riv’r.

Forthright, flexible and firm — 

the three frees.

Living, in the realm

of the possible:

not ‘they should’, only

‘well, maybe we can…’ 

Else we forget, the

value of play

and the value of

his playful life.

Arthur Battram

10:26 AM, Thursday, June 12, 2014, revised 2:02 PM  Friday, September 5, 2014 , and again so the scansion is better Tuesday, September 9, 2014, 2:04 PM.

A fitting obituary is here:

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/people/obituaries/perry-else-1959-2014/2013792.article

Media coverage of play/child-related issues: David Spencer Ramsey’s ongoing (and therefore partial) list

David has kindly given me permission to share his list of media coverage of what I have labelled ‘play/child-related issues’.

The list is a partial one, as he explains below. He says:

“Interesting research fact: There have been more than 50 articles, news reports, and radio pieces in mainstream media (New York Times, Slate.com, Washington Post, NPR, KQED, ABC News, etc.) in the United States on children’s play since the beginning of 2014.”

“So right now I’ve collected data on the 50+ media references since start of 2014. I’m in the process of going back year-by-year over the past 5 years to see if 2014 does indeed stand out as having a significantly higher number of ‘mainstream media’ (broadcast, print, web) discussions of play. I can easily provide you the 50+ references for 2014 with date, publication, url, title, etc., it’s all in a Microsoft Word doc.”

“I am … interested in looking at things from a different perspective, ie., is there a potentially larger social-cultural shift occurring in America that is either allowing or actively encouraging this sort of mainstream media coverage to happen? In other words, why now? Why these particular stories? What does this say, if anything, about American society in 2014?”

 

My own cynical view is that this media kerfuffle does not, of itself, signal a change in US (or UK) society. I wish it did. Nevertheless, if nothing else the covering is cheering, and may inspire. Feel free to use the list anyway you wish.

Please contact David directly if you have any questions or requests. For my part I will update this item whenever I can (not guaranteeing!).

davidramsey1234@yahoo.com

——————————————————————–

DAVID’S LIST ( as of MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 2014)

——————————————————————–

The Overprotected Kid

The Atlantic, March 19, 2014

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/03/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/

Why Free Play is the Best Summer School

The Atlantic, June 20, 2014

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/06/for-better-school-results-clear-the-schedule-and-let-kids-play/373144/

Recess Without Rules

The Atlantic, January 28, 2014

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/01/recess-without-rules/283382/

Inside a European Adventure Playground

The Atlantic, March 19, 2014

http://www.theatlantic.com/video/archive/2014/03/europes-adventure-playgrounds-look-way-more-fun/284521/

How Finland Keeps Kids Focused Through Free Play

The Atlantic, June 30, 2014

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/06/how-finland-keeps-kids-focused/373544/

Kids These Days: Growing Up Too Fast or Never At All?

National Public Radio, March 20, 2014

http://www.npr.org/2014/03/20/291922339/kids-these-days-growing-up-too-fast-or-never-at-all

Where the Wild Things Play

National Public Radio, August 4, 2014

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/08/04/334896321/where-the-wild-things-play

Play Doesn’t End With Childhood: Why Adults Need Recess Too

National Public Radio, August 6, 2014

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/08/06/336360521/play-doesnt-end-with-childhood-why-adults-need-recess-too

Scientists Say Child’s Play Helps Build a Better Brain

National Public Radio, August 6, 2014

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/08/06/336361277/scientists-say-childs-play-helps-build-a-better-brain

When Kids Start Playing to Win

National Public Radio, August 5, 2014

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/08/05/331412567/when-kids-start-playing-to-win

What Kids Can Learn From a Water Balloon Fight

National Public Radio, June 25, 2014

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/06/25/325218402/what-kids-can-learn-from-a-water-balloon-fight

For Kids With Special Needs, More Places to Play

National Public Radio, August 27, 2013

http://www.npr.org/2013/08/27/213827534/for-kids-with-special-needs-more-places-to-play

Kids Need More Structured Play Time, Not Less

New York Times, May 1, 2014

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/01/kids-need-more-structured-playtime-not-less/

All Children Should be Delinquents

New York Times, July 12, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/13/opinion/sunday/all-children-should-be-delinquents.html

Mom Faces Felony Charge for Letting Girl Play in Park

ABC News, July 28, 2014

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/sc-moms-arrest-sparks-child-care-debate-24745801

Play for Children: Form and Freedom

Huffington Post, July 11, 2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/megan-rosker/play-for-children-form-self-discipline_b_5575864.html

If Children are Learning, Then Let Them Play

Huffington Post, November 1, 2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bethany-wilinski/if-children-are-for-learning_b_4184361.html

Dad Charged With Endangerment After Son Skips Church to Go Play

Huffington Post, June 30, 2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/30/dad-arrested-son-skips-church_n_5544661.html

Stressed Out in America: Five Reason to Let Your Kids Play

Huffington Post, February 28, 2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katie-hurley/stressed-out-in-america-5-reasons-to-let-your-kids-play_b_4869863.html

Banish the Playdate

Huffington Post, July 24, 2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-bernholdt/banish-the-playdate_b_5577558.html

Best Type of Play? Let Kids do What They Want

NBC News, 9News Colorado, August 6, 2014

http://www.9news.com/story/news/health/2014/08/06/free-play-kids/13694309/

How Play Wires Kids’ Brains for Social and Academic Success

KQED California, August 7, 2014

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/08/how-play-wires-kids-brains-for-social-and-academic-success/

Let ‘Em Out!  The Many Benefits of Outdoor Play in Kindergarten

KQED California, July 23, 2014

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/07/let-em-out-the-many-benefits-of-outdoor-play-in-kindergarten/

A Land Where Kids Roam Free

KQED California, July 18, 2014

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/07/audio-file-wont-embed/

Can Free Play Prevent Depression and Anxiety in Kids?

KQED California, June 29, 2014

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/06/can-free-play-prevent-depression-and-anxiety-in-kids/

Cities Want Young Families to Play and Stay

Wall Street Journal, August 5, 2014

http://online.wsj.com/articles/cities-message-to-young-families-play-and-stay-1407279639

Playing Children, Out of Sight and Mind

New York Daily News, August 4, 2014

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/playing-children-sight-mind-article-1.1889019

Visiting Lecturer Says Play is Effective Learning Tool

Iowa City Press-Citizen, August 1, 2014

http://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/local/2014/07/31/visitng-lecturer-says-play-effective-learning-tool/13395155/

In This Era of Helicopter Parenting, Letting Your Child Play is a Crime

Charleston City Paper, July 23, 2014

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/HaireoftheDog/archives/2014/07/23/in-this-era-of-helicopter-parenting-letting-your-children-play-is-a-crime

Play: The Work of a Child

Green Bay Press Gazette, July 12, 2014

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/life/2014/07/12/play-work-child/12534161/

The Best Toy for a Kid on a Plane is Not an iPad

ABC News, July 23, 2014

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/best-toy-kid-plane-ipad/story?id=24588355

Send the Kids Outside to Play: Study

Chicago Tribune, July 17, 2014

http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/sns-rt-us-kids-outdoors-fitness-20140717-story.html

Even Playing Dress-Up Teaches Children How to Handle Emotions

Springfield News Leader, July 11, 2014

http://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/ozarks/2014/07/11/even-playing-dress-teaches-children-handle-emotions/12546701/

Letting Imagination Win

Washington Post, August 8, 2014

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2014/08/08/playing-not-winning-the-game/

Ten Ways to Fix the Mess That is Kindergarten

Washington Post, August 7, 2014

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/08/07/ten-ways-to-fix-the-mess-that-is-kindergarten/

Why So Many Kids Can’t Sit Still in School Today

Washington Post, July 8, 2014

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/07/08/why-so-many-kids-cant-sit-still-in-school-today/

Are We Overprotecting Our Kids?

Katie Couric Show, July 9, 2014

http://katiecouric.com/2014/07/09/are-we-overprotecting-our-kids/

Should Parents Let Their Kids Take More Risks?

PBS NewsHour, May 9, 2014

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/parents-let-kids-take-risks/

Does Overprotecting Children Put Them at Risk?

CBS News, March 20, 2014

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/does-over-protecting-children-make-them-less-independent-and-creative/

Let Kids Run Wild in the Woods

Slate.com, May 2014

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/05/kid_play_zones_in_parks_leave_no_trace_inhibits_fun_and_bonding_with_nature.html

What Playfulness Can Do For You

Boston Globe, July 20, 2014

http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/07/19/what-playfulness-can-for-you/Cxd7Et4igTLkwpkUXSr3cO/story.html

How the American Playground was Born in Boston

Boston Globe, March 28, 2014

http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/03/28/how-american-playground-was-born-boston/5i2XrMCjCkuu5521uxleEL/story.html

A Parklet Rises in Boston

Boston Globe, July 14, 2014

http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/2014/07/14/parklet-rises-boston/6R0DwaikXFFpgILJ6trzGL/story.html

Help Kids’ Imaginations Soar

Miami Herald, July 13, 2014

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/11/4231708/help-kids-imaginations-soar.html

For July, Let Kids be Kids

Columbia Daily Tribune, July 13, 2014

http://www.columbiatribune.com/opinion/columnists/for-july-let-kids-be-kids/article_95b39566-73a9-5fb2-9ec1-297e1ba16d03.html

The Cognitive Benefits of Play: Effects on the Learning Brain

ParentingScience.com, 2014

http://www.parentingscience.com/benefits-of-play.html

7 Crippling Parenting Behaviors That Keep Children From Growing Into Leaders

Forbes.com, January 16, 2014

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2014/01/16/7-crippling-parenting-behaviors-that-keep-children-from-growing-into-leaders/

Too Much Too Soon: Why Children Should Spend More Time Playing and Start School Later

Forbes.com, January 30, 2014

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2014/01/30/too-much-too-soon-why-children-should-spend-more-time-playing-and-start-school-later/

Why Playful Learning is the Key to Prosperity

Forbes.com, April 10, 2014

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ashoka/2014/04/10/why-playful-learning-is-the-key-to-prosperity/

Mom Arrested After Letting 7-Year-Old Son Walk to Park by Himself

KTLA News, July 31, 2014

http://ktla.com/2014/07/31/mom-arrested-after-letting-7-year-old-son-walk-to-neighborhood-park-by-himself/

Give them all ASBOs! This is what advocacy for play looks like

What follows is the (obviously) unofficial view of a senior police officer on the subject of ASBOs, ABCs and other legal attempts to control the nuisance of children.

The officer is commenting on a report, which you can read by following the link below.

———————————————-

The officer said:

“I am writing in a non official capacity – my role is that of *** in ***
(Force).

If I can take the opportunity to comment on your ABC report. I thought it
was spot on and I will ensure it will be sent to my officers responsible for
delivering and working with those who deliver ABCs.

I do see a use for ABCs but as you point out, when the system is vague
and threatening it does nothing to inspire me that this is a tool that will
be of any merit or worth.

Surely children who may be experiencing problems in their lives require
support and should not be growing up in an authoritarian environment?

Thank you for a thought provoking report.”

The report he or she is commenting on is this one:

Report re: The Compatibility of Acceptable Behaviour Contracts with
Article 6.1 of the European Convention on Human Rights

By Jan Cosgrove and Matthew Cosgrove

Click to access 1325042991.pdf

Have any of our noble play-related university lecturers done any work in this area? I would love to see it.

 

You can find out more about FPFC here:

 

http://www.fairplayforchildren.net/what.htm

Parents Who Promote Less Rigid Lifestyles for Children Prove More Effective

http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/15514/20140618/parents-who-promote-less-rigid-lifestyles-children-prove-more-effective.htm

Seems to be a balanced article about a smart bit of research.

Teacher Tom: Everyone Protecting Everyone

Teacher Tom: Everyone Protecting Everyone.

“When the girls came outside, the boys chased the girls chased the boys, wildly, around and around our outdoor space, all flushed and breathing hard, chasing without catching, everyone protecting everyone.”

The way he did it, honestly sharing his opinion, not adding any judgment,and the playful shuttle diplomacy he practiced, is pure playwork.

Shame that many playworkers don’t do it like this.

This is either because they aren’t allowed to, or they haven’t been shown, or, probably, they haven’t been allowed to learn how to.

A challenge for playwork: The scary world of 12 year olds

One of the many things I find curious about the playwork field here in UK is the extent to which it ignores the world of parenting. I’m not sure why, although I have some ideas (which I won’t share now for fear of annoying my playwork chums).

I wonder how we can blithely talk about providing play opportunities and the importance of risky play and all that, when we take no notice of the family life of twelve year olds like this one? Some women playwork writers have talked about a marginalised female perspective within playwork, and I agree largely, but my point is this – are we aware enough of these phenomena? And if we are, are we doing enough to offer a safe place for girls within our play provision?

I guess my comments are aimed more at the rufty-tufty adventure end of the provision – after-school childcare schemes might provide more girl-friendly spaces. Perhaps. And it’s not just about girls: boys have similar pressures, though they tend to act out in different ways, perhaps.

I’m not saying this to be contentious, I’m just saying that consideration of these questions might lead to us modifying some of our ‘offerings’, as the jargon has it.

Parenting And Stuff

It was an evening last week when I learned that my Tween, a very sensitive and empathic girl, is chatting with a friend who is, at the same time over the phone with another friend escorting the local police searching for another (fourth) friend suspected of trying to commit suicide, per her FB.

In case you’ve lost me, this is the situation: My kid is sitting on her bed trembling and crying, while I am staring at her I-pad unbelievably, chat lines running extremely fast saying:  “Diane is not at the living room… wait, looking for her at the kitchen…not there! Perhaps she already did it! Wait, the police is entering the bathroom… Here she is! She is alive! She tried to kill herself!” Etc.

Once I was sure that Diane (which my daughter is not familiar with) is ok, and that her parents are aware of what’s happening in…

View original post 266 more words

Teacher Tom: The Shape Of The Block In My Hand

Teacher Tom: The Shape Of The Block In My Hand.

 

Lots of wisdom in this blog. It’s also hilarious.

 

Marit stared at me as if I were an idiot, “We’re the bad guys.”

“We’re the bad guys?”

“Yeah, they’re the good guys and we’re the bad guys.”

“My whip has magic in it and turns you into a toilet!”

“We have a invisible pet monster that eats your whips!”

Thanks to Cath Prisk for alerting me to it, I’m doing a bit of e-housekeeping while I listen to Diane Abbott arguing with Hezza wondering which one is more annoying, and I just now found her email from two months ago.

My favourite A.S.Neill anecdote: if it featured a car, I could have called it ‘Cars and Girls’

Here’s my favourite Neill anecdote, told in my own words. It works like a stun grenade lobbed into the ivory tower of pedagogy and pediatric development, I reckon.

I’d like a snappy title: how about this:

“MANUAL WORK IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL”

Once there was a boy at Summerhill who could not read. Teachers were concerned about him, and wanted to help. Neill said, calmly and firmly: “No.”

The years went by and the boy –  still utterly illiterate and fast approaching his final year of school – wanted a motorbike: the key to his freedom to roam the leafy lanes of East Anglia, and the key to meeting GIRLS in the nearest town, several miles away.

That summer, as he turned sixteen (and became eligible for a provisional license to legally ride a 50cc motorcycle), he  discovered a rusting moped in a hedge.  He dragged the wreck back to Summerhill and set about restoring it. He scrubbed and cleaned until it gleamed.  Of course it wouldn’t go. It would need masses of mechanical and electrical know-how to get it going, if this were even possible.

So he went to Neill, they all called him Neill, and knocked quietly on the half-open door of Neill’s study, clutching the Haynes manual for the Honda 50, and asked: “ Neill , please will you teach me to read this?”

And Neill said, calmy and firmly:

“Yes.”

§

 

Thanks to Joel, for evoking this with your blog, to be found here:

http://playworkings.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/comparisons-of-some-early-twentieth-and-early-twenty-first-century-thinking-about-children/#respond

Start your reading about Neill here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._S._Neill

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/23/leila-berg

(I think I would have first heard of Neill by reading an article in New Society by Leila Berg)

Arising in the playspace: what is the role of the playworker?

Thank you to Morgan for sharing this quote:

“I am of course employed as a leader, but on an adventure playground this is hardly the same as the accepted idea of a leader and organizer who works, as it were, from the outside. Rather, mine is a function which arises within the actual framework of the playground where I am in a position to give the children every opportunity of putting their plans into practice. This initiative must come from the children themselves and when the necessary materials are to be had these give the children the inspiration for play. I cannot, and indeed will not, teach the children anything. I am able to give them my support in their creative play and work, and thus help them in developing those talents and abilities which are often suppressed at home and at school. I consider it most important that the leader not appear too clever but that he remain at the same experimental stage as the children. In this way the initiative is left, to a great extent, with the children themselves and it is thus far easier to avoid serious intrusion into their fantasy world.”

from John Bertelsen’s “Early Experience from Emdrup” in Adventure Playgrounds,p.20-1.

Now, note the word: ‘arises’.

Something that arises is something that is emergent.

He is not saying his role is mandated by his employer, nor is it subservient to, or defined by, his ‘customers’. Rather, it is, from my complexity perspective – an emergent phenomenon within the playspace.

Which brings me right back to my presentation in 1997 at PlayEd: ”Designing PossibilitySpaces – the key task for playwork“. It is this emergent quality of the playspace, which is not a simple linear result of the staff and the physical environment, that determines and creates the playspace. Yes, it is circular. And yes, it is emergent from many interactions between many humans – mainly the children with each other, but also with adults.

(Author’s note: I’ve added single quotes around the phrase ‘the child’, just like that. I did this just now: Thursday, April 18, 2013 14:27.  The reason being that I wanted to clarify that I am focussing on the concept we point to when we use the phrase, and I am indebted to Morgan for pointing up what I was doing. I was taking for granted that my audience would know what I meant, which is always dangerous. Like Morgan, I wince when ever I encounter the idealised child in print.)

 

Yet we continue to talk about children in the singular. Playwork is not about ‘the child’. As I have said before, and been mightily  misunderstood and majorly castigated for: playwork is not about helping children. Playwork is about providing playspaces (a term that needs to be defined, but not now, but see below*)  for children – PLURAL, not helping ‘the child’. SINGULAR.

Playwork is not about ‘the child’. Leave that bogus concern to social services, who have discarded all they knew about families as interactive systems in favour of a tabloid-driven heroic rescue mentality.

Playwork is about children en masse. Groups of children. Large numbers of children.

If we focus on individual children and we neglect to focus on the playspace*, – the culture being continuously recreated autopoietically, the resulting emergent behaviour of the denizens en masse – then we stop doing playwork and become rescuers.

 

The role of the playworker

is an emergent responsiveness

to the playspace.

 

§

Thanks again Morgan, for sharing that Bertelsenic nugget. More please.

On the shoulders of giants

DEAR OTHER PARENTS AT THE PARK: Please do not lift my daughters to the top of the ladder, especially after you’ve just heard me tell them I wasn’t going to do it for them and encourage them to try it themselves

”I am not sitting here, 15 whole feet away from my kids, because I am too lazy to get up. I am sitting here because I didn’t bring them to the park so they could learn how to manipulate others into doing the hard work for them. I brought them here so they could learn to do it themselves.“

WOW. The only thing that stopped me just quoting the whole thing is blogettiquette – you MUST read every word of this!
http://alameda.patch.com/blog_posts/please-dont-help-my-kids

About a year ago I chided another playwork blogger for entertaining, or at least implying, that helping children is part of what we do as playwork people. This far better expresses my perspective than my querulous commenty bloggage of last year.

So I must reluctantly confine myself to a few choice quotes, those perhaps most pertinent to people who work with other people’s children:

”It is not my job to keep them from falling. If I do, I have robbed them of the opportunity to learn that falling is possible but worth the risk, and that they can, in fact, get up again.“

”I want my girls to know the exhilaration of overcoming fear and doubt and achieving a hard-won success.“

”I want them to believe in their own abilities and be confident and determined in their actions. “

”I want them to accept their limitations until they can figure out a way past them on their own significant power.“

”I want them to feel capable of making their own decisions, developing their own skills, taking their own risks, and coping with their own feelings.“

”I want them to climb that ladder without any help, however well-intentioned, from you.“

Read the whole thing –  maybe even memorise it and quote it next time somebody asks you “why?” – read it here:

http://alameda.patch.com/blog_posts/please-dont-help-my-kids