Childhood Days
Playing is good for every person of every age. For children, it’s a necessity, like air and water and food! Childhood is, among other things, a time to play.
One of the blessings of homeschooling is the opportunity for your children to have a childhood. We live in a world that pushes children to become adults way too soon. It’s easy to conform to that pattern. In fact, it’s hard not to conform.
God created a time to be a child and a time to be grown up. Homeschooling gives children an opportunity to do those things in the right order and for the right length of time.
Today my brother and I might feel a bit silly playing army with him as the soldier and me as the nurse. People might think we were weird if we stood in front of our parents’ dresser, doing the Mexican hat dance or the bunny hop.
Homeschooling gives children a wonderful opportunity to play. Don’t be afraid to give your children plenty of time to play.
As we have interviewed our friends and neighbors, a recurring theme has been the freedom they had to play while they were children: roaming through the hills around town, playing in the creeks, and making mud pies. I think you will enjoy their stories in this video, Childhood Days.
When Zechariah described blessings in the city of Jerusalem, one of those blessings was children playing:
Thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem,
each man with his staff in his hand because of age.
And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls
playing in its streets.”
Zechariah 8:4-5
Charlene, these videos are absolute gold! It makes the history of these folks come alive, and gives a wonderful picture of how children are at once so different now, yet still so much the same. I have really enjoyed these videos—thanks for making and sharing them!
Thank you, Betsy. It has been such a joy! This feedback means so much to me. I really appreciate the confirmation.
I sometimes forget that children nowadays do not usually get this kind of childhood, because we have worked really hard to give ours one like this. We have a home on acreage with animals, and neighbors who let our kids hunt and fish on their property. The kids (2-12) spend afternoons digging a tunnel to China, building a bonfire, flying drones in the pasture, climbing trees, or playing with kittens/chicks/lambs. I just remember so much freedom and adventure in my childhood, and I wanted that for our 6 kids. They’re often dirty and sunburned, covered in bruises. I feel like I’m giving something so special, almost sacred, to them.
Bravo, Annie! Bravo!!