Getting Back to Basics... A Guest Perspecitve

Welcome to a new perspective! My friend Tina did this once and I thought it was cool. I have been sort of monotonous lately, so here is some of what's been on my dear cousin, Marisa's, mind...

Guest Blogger: Cousin Marisa

It's Friday night. My teacher friends and I meet up at my friend Kate's house. They bring the kids, I bring dinner for the adults (one day, this will change, but for now I'm OK with being "the one with no kids"). As we sit and chat in the kitchen, it's hard to ignore the screaming, banging, laughing, and crying that echoes from the upstairs playroom. Four kids, who look forward to these get together just as much as we do, having their fun (while we have ours). We move through our conversations as kids take turns marching down the stairs to tattle.

Problems are solved quickly, the play ensues.

As we finish our meal we move the conversation into the living room, the children follow (Really? How about you keep playing upstairs?...not a chance). It's 7:30 - meltdowns are approaching, and I'm about to make my graceful exit.

Then it happened...

"Hey Alex, what do you have there?" I asked.
"My UNO game"
"I love UNO! Want to play?"
"Sure!"


He proceeded to tell me every rule of the game in great detail. First we played with Sofia (4) on my lap. Then Bella (6 1/2) joined in the next game. It was 8:00 and you could have heard a pin drop! THIS NEVER HAPPENS! Just when we thought there would be a meltdown...there wasn't. Fights over who would go first faded and we started hearing things like, "Wow, Bella you really got me!" and "Now it's your turn!" and even "I WON! Good game guys!". Throughout the entire hour of play, not one whine, tear or tattle. Just good old fashioned fun!

I met up with one of those friends today, she informed me that after I left Bella and Alex played for another hour and a half - cheering each other on the whole time.

I never thought I'd be one of those "when I was young" people, but here I go. I feel like my generation has an edge over children today. We grew up with board games, kickball and hide and seek. Yes, we did have video games, but I think the difference was we had a firm foundation in how to coexist with other kids.

I see it everyday...kids that just cannot, for the life of them, COEXIST WITH EACH OTHER! Communication is no longer a skill that is being taught at home and teachers are feeling it BIG TIME. It really took this small moment at a friends house to show me the importance of good old fashioned PLAY! Not video games, or unsupervised play room kind of play (don't get me wrong this type of play is all well and good in moderations)...play that has structure, encourages oral language, problem solving, collaborative thinking and most of all COMMUNICATION!


It may sound like boring play to some, but according to Mom, Bella has talked about only one thing all weekend - buying her own UNO game.

Moral of the Story: Talk to your kids! It works!