My Connections to Play

THE MAGICAL WORLD OF FORT BUILDING 

When I reflect upon the way I played as a child, it is not toys that come to my mind, but the wonderful world of creativity with the items that surrounded me.  I built many forts; some in the house, some in the nearby fields, some in the grape vineyards, and some (yes don't tell the construction workers) in the lot of the neighborhood that was building brand new houses.  I couldn't help myself there.  They left out all types of great stuff for fort building like 2x4's and sheets of wood of all sizes, even giant sheets of chalk for breaking off and marking out our space (as an adult I learned this was called dry wall).  My favorite places to build were when, for some unknown reason to me, giant tractors would dig caves in the ground for me and I could pretend I was a caveman.  I would fill those holes building bedrooms and kitchens and bring in dishes and supplies.  I can only imagine now what those construction workers must have thought when they showed up in the mornings to new forts built everyday, almost always in different parts of the houses or underground.  As a child, I couldn't figure out why they kept breaking them down every day.  I am only guessing now that those giant underground caves must have been for basements or crawl spaces, but I just can't remember them having anything to do with the house they were building.  All I saw was play space and all I knew was I could play outside as long as I wanted, but when the street lights came on, I had to go home for dinner and my world of outside play was over for the day.

How often are we providing children with long periods of time where they can just play with their surroundings.  Can we provide them with an environment that is safe and not nag them too much about what they are doing.  Can we let them build a fort without telling them they did it wrong, solving their problems when it doesn't work right, coming up with reason why it is not safe and they will break limb, or getting after them for the materials they choose to use - even if it was our fanciest table cloth?  Can we just choose to remember that children need time to discover and learn these things on their own.  I can contribute my creative talents and ability to solve complex problems to my mom who didn't forget that I was a child and let me play!