September 23, 2016 - 19:50
Kid Stuff written by Molly Knefel introduced some interesting debates about whether should childhood be carefree or not—and whether play is carefree for children. While in the short post named “play time” written by Dorothy Kim, the author delightfully described how was her childhood play looks like and how does the school work affects her forms of play.The two writing pieces echoes and contradicts to each other in several ways.
Knefel suggests in her essay that childhood is carefree and always idyllic when grown-up recalls back. In Dorothy’s post, she describes a carefree and dreamlike childhood which she thinks “As a child, I felt as if I spent a majority of my time playing.” It may not be true in reality. When hearing children say they feel “depressed”, grown-ups feel ridiculous because in their opinions, children are “devoid of emotional depth, and immune from the world’s oppressive structures.” The idealization and glorification of childhood makes it flawless in our memories and all the “depression” and sadness may be eliminated from it automatically by our brains. When recalling our childhood, everyone may has a similar picture burst into their minds which like what Knefel says: “It flattens all children into stock photos—white, typically developing, stereotypically gendered, and climbing on a well-maintained playground against the sunset.” Interestingly, in Dorothy’s post there’s a sentence describing her memory of childhood, reads, “Playtime was a period of time in the afternoon when the sun would fall from its peak and slowly make its decent until it was time for dinner. Each afternoon consisted of a new adventure and a new tale to tell. ”Which almost echoes to the quote from Knefel.
In “Kid Stuff”, the author not only discussed how childhood is “carefree” by “conception in mainstream US culture” but also suggests how American test-prep their babies and how childhood is not “carefree” as children are having too much workloads. Dorothy’s post agrees with Knefel in a way that she describes her childhood play happens when “With little homework to do” and "I spent less time going outside as we had all begun to separate into our different paths. Middle school, elementary school, the gap seemed larger than before.” Also it’s mentioned in Knefel’s essay that different people view their children time play differently. Some children has childhood full of disneyland, yogurt and candy creams, while others have to face wars, segregations and economic security at an early age. Dorothy’s childhood by description is certainly the former one, which readers cannot see any worry about security from her idyllic memory.
However, there’s something in Dorothy’s post gives birth to a new perspective for opinions that Knefel brought about. The little girl’s play in Knefel’s essay reflects the expectation put on the kids by adults by acting how she “misses out on all the fun around her so she can secure her future success ”.Which also reflects the author’s own thoughts, which she believes school work takes away fun from children and academic success is contradict to the “ridiculous” or careless play. However, Dorothy actually thinks study is another kind of play if one enjoys it, which she wrote “play once again became free time for me to read” and she argues “Play was no longer physical activity but rather intellectual. ” knefel suggests when adults are nostalgic about childhood, they are longing for the fun. in Dorothy’s post, adults play are necessarily lack of fun, but as it gradually develops with age, it evolves different kinds of fun “Play once again became entertainment, yet neither physical nor really intellectual. Social activity, on both online and offline platforms became the new form of play. “
Dorothy’s post agrees with Knefel in how adults recall back their childhood as idyllic and how children loosing their original forms of play during their school time. However, it produces a new way to think of whether childhood is carefree and whether not being carefree after growing up is necessary a bad thing, since play evolves in different forms and keep contributing to our mental health.