All I want to do is have some fun.
And I've got a feeling that I'm not the only one...
The driving factor behind pretty much anything and everything kids do is the desire to "have fun." They haven't developed mentally enough to separate things they "have to do" from things they "want to do." There are lots of ways kids can have fun, but over the past 20 years what kids end up "wanting to do" has experienced a significant paradigm shift.
They used to want to play - they wanted to go outside, make believe, be cowboys and princesses, space captains or jump rope queens. Now when parents let kids "have fun" it's generally "Go watch four hours of cartoons" or "Go play XBox for the night." Instead of getting dirty, meeting the neighborhood kids, or expanding the imagination, it's all about the latest and greatest graphics and special effects.
Before the argument comes up that (some) games and (some) television shows can expand the imagination, there is such a huge difference between SHOWING and TELLING.
One of my favorite authors of all time is HP Lovecraft, a horror writer from the 20s and 30s. He wrote differently from almost everyone else though, and helped define the "strange fiction" genre. Instead of his stories describing ghosts and goblins and monsters and aliens terrorizing the world, his stories took a different route. While there certainly were ghosts and monsters, his stories were not about the creature - they were about the person. Mostly told in first person, his stories often followed a character's descent into insanity and madness. He rarely described the creature, and instead described the character's reaction to seeing it. He let you use your imagination to create the details, and in doing so the creature was different for every single person - and each person's image of the creature was terrifying to them personally. What freaks my friend out might not even phase me, but because my image of the creature is different from my friend's, we were both terrified.
Extrapolate this imagination-exercise into a child's situation: They're being shown what the aliens in Halo look like, versus going out into their back yard and imagining they're fighting off aliens that they've created. In order to stimulate imagination, kids need to go outside and play. Give a kid with a good imagination a stick and they should be able to entertain themselves for a whole day.
To help combat society's diminishing emphasis on play, an organization called KaBOOM! has sponsored a "National Play Day" week. September 19th-27th, over 300 organizations will be sponsoring events designed to encourage children to turn off the electronics, get outside, and just play!
Rochester Parkour will be doing their part. We will be sponsoring a free event at Manhattan Square Park, our usual training grounds, for ages 7-13. We will be focusing on the "play" side of Parkour - games, follow the leader, and exploring your environment - and we will be teaching kids about the importance of picking up after themselves, cleaning up trash, and leaving their playgrounds cleaner than they found them. You can find out more information about our event on our Playday Organization Page.
I know another one of these is happening in Madison, and Parkour Visions is considering hosting on in Seattle. Will these three communities be the only ones to help save play, or will you join the cause and host your own?
The driving factor behind pretty much anything and everything kids do is the desire to "have fun." They haven't developed mentally enough to separate things they "have to do" from things they "want to do." There are lots of ways kids can have fun, but over the past 20 years what kids end up "wanting to do" has experienced a significant paradigm shift.
They used to want to play - they wanted to go outside, make believe, be cowboys and princesses, space captains or jump rope queens. Now when parents let kids "have fun" it's generally "Go watch four hours of cartoons" or "Go play XBox for the night." Instead of getting dirty, meeting the neighborhood kids, or expanding the imagination, it's all about the latest and greatest graphics and special effects.
Before the argument comes up that (some) games and (some) television shows can expand the imagination, there is such a huge difference between SHOWING and TELLING.
One of my favorite authors of all time is HP Lovecraft, a horror writer from the 20s and 30s. He wrote differently from almost everyone else though, and helped define the "strange fiction" genre. Instead of his stories describing ghosts and goblins and monsters and aliens terrorizing the world, his stories took a different route. While there certainly were ghosts and monsters, his stories were not about the creature - they were about the person. Mostly told in first person, his stories often followed a character's descent into insanity and madness. He rarely described the creature, and instead described the character's reaction to seeing it. He let you use your imagination to create the details, and in doing so the creature was different for every single person - and each person's image of the creature was terrifying to them personally. What freaks my friend out might not even phase me, but because my image of the creature is different from my friend's, we were both terrified.
Extrapolate this imagination-exercise into a child's situation: They're being shown what the aliens in Halo look like, versus going out into their back yard and imagining they're fighting off aliens that they've created. In order to stimulate imagination, kids need to go outside and play. Give a kid with a good imagination a stick and they should be able to entertain themselves for a whole day.
To help combat society's diminishing emphasis on play, an organization called KaBOOM! has sponsored a "National Play Day" week. September 19th-27th, over 300 organizations will be sponsoring events designed to encourage children to turn off the electronics, get outside, and just play!
Rochester Parkour will be doing their part. We will be sponsoring a free event at Manhattan Square Park, our usual training grounds, for ages 7-13. We will be focusing on the "play" side of Parkour - games, follow the leader, and exploring your environment - and we will be teaching kids about the importance of picking up after themselves, cleaning up trash, and leaving their playgrounds cleaner than they found them. You can find out more information about our event on our Playday Organization Page.
I know another one of these is happening in Madison, and Parkour Visions is considering hosting on in Seattle. Will these three communities be the only ones to help save play, or will you join the cause and host your own?
Labels: KaBOOM, national play day, outside, parkour, play, Rochester Parkour, television, video games, XBox
posted by Zac at
2:01 PM
0 Comments
