Ten Days of Blessings — Blessing 7: Time to play.
Children learn in many ways — by listening, by reading, by seeing, and by playing.
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 a bit strange if we stood in front of our parents’ dresser, doing the Mexican hat dance or the bunny hop. But we certainly had fun doing those things when we were children.
Childhood is a time for:
- Playing catch
- Playing tag
- Building with LEGOs®
- Playing board games
- Putting puzzles together
- Playing kickball
- Swinging
- Riding bikes
- Making mud pies
- Singing
- Playing house
- Making up skits
- Playing office
- Blowing bubbles
- Drawing, cutting, coloring, painting, creating
- Dancing
- Pretending all kinds of things
Childhood is a time for actually doing those things — not just watching other people or creatures or objects do them on an electronic screen. Homeschooling gives children the best chance I know to enjoy real play in abundance. And isn’t it wonderful that you don’t have to sign your children up, pay tuition, or pile children and stuff into the car to do those things?
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.
I believe in childhood. It’s easy to let our children grow up too soon. In fact, I think it is hard not to do that. Resisting the temptation to rush childhood requires many well-thought-out decisions. Even something as simple as finding clothes and shoes that are appropriate for a child is a challenge.
When Zechariah described blessings in the city of Jerusalem, one of those blessings was children playing. I hope you have the joy of seeing children play today.
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
Amen, I love that my youngest age 11 plays with her horses and dolls and has hundreds of stories she acts out. She is learning to care for her new dog this year. Her responsibilities and play changes but is still very active.