limited playing time

By weilla yuan
September 28, 2014 - 22:07

My childhood memory of play was never that pleasant. Unlike other kids, I've always had a time limit --- "You must come back in half an hour." My family always believe that read more books is always better than "just play and learn nothing". Everytime I got home late because of a one-time passion for playing with "actual" friends, and I got a two-hour long lecture about how I was wasting my time on the "useless playing". This kind of lecture created a resentment for me. In order to avoid them, I started to avoid the friends who asked me out for play, and then gradually, I lost all of my friends.

I remember there was this one time me and my friends went out for a birthday party, and I got attracted by an after party of a movie marathon. So I called my father and ask for an one-movie permission. However, the movies were so great and I completely lost track of time. When I realized it, three movies ha already played. I was so worried, ran home and not surprisingly, an extended lecture was waiting for me, with yelling. That day did not end well, and it left a scare in my mind. From then on, I always have a bad feeling before going out with friends. Gradually, I abandoned the "useless playing" time.

Clarifying

Supporting

Complexifying

Weaving

Free in Play

Though Weila writes about the limited time she had to play, she still makes it seem like the times when she got to hang out with her friends was a kind of escape. Especially when I was younger, playing was a way for me to get out of my head, forget about my inadequacies, my fights with my parents, and lack of friends that were my age. I could stop questioning my every action, movement, word. When I was in true "play mode," I was in my most natural state.

Challenging

Unspecified

Playing=Eating!

In my childhood, my family lived far away from schools and relatives, and I wasn’t really familiar with them. So I spent most of my time with my family or just by myself. But at the meantime my family is strict on “plays": no computer games, no TVs more than 1 hour a day, and no novels. So when this assignment was posted, I was a little bit irresolute about what to write. I just read Weilla’s story. I feel a resonance with her: Chinese kids don’t really have the opportunity to play…

’smart deceiver'

Willa’s passage reminded me of my childhood memory. They are similar to some extent, but are also quite different. What’s similar is that when I was young, I also got limited play time, specially TV time, since TV is harmful to eyes and I’m so addicted to the cartoons. However, instead of a frustrating memory it should have been, it was kind of fun and exciting everytime I recall it now. Since I can’t watch too much TV when my parents are home, so every time my parents leave for work, leaving myself at home alone, it will be my precious TV time.

Dolls

My mom didn't restrict my play in the same way Weila's parents did, but my mom's one stipulation was that I wasn't allowed to play with barbies. She thought that they were a negative influence that would lead me to have a negative body image when I got older. She criticized, not unreasonably, the almost inhuman proportions of the dolls' bodies. On the rare occasion that I went to the house of a friend who had barbie dolls, it was like the best day of my life. I loved taking time to pick out the perfect outfit for my doll to wear, trying to make her look fashionable and stylish.