October 11, 2014 - 03:07
During childhood, many habits are formed in the process of child development. This beginning period of life is often referred to as the foundation for development. No matter if the child’s childhood was miserable or exceptional, it has a deep impact on the formation of the type of person the child will grow into be. Play is impossible to restrain from any child because play, in all of its entirely, is essential for every childhood. Play instructs kids to approach problems in hopes to resolve the issue. Play enlightens children to communicate. Play is a discipline that helps to prepare children for life, in an innocent manner. However, play is never free due to constraint of society.
Children are young and naive, inadequate to complete complex tasks. However, they aren’t completely useless. But, thankfully most children are assigned to a guardian(s). Although the guardians are in the children’s life to help guild/lead the child, it is important for them not to push them. The act of the guardian pushing the child during play isn’t innocent. In Deborah Bird Rose’s except from Ravens at Play, she says, “ Ears upright, tail held low, body expressing confidence, and his mouth, when not opened wide, was relaxed and unaggressive. Certainly, that gaping mouth could have been a show of aggression, but at the time it spoke 'food' to me. We all--humans and coyote--kept a careful distance from each other.” (Debbie, 2) Debbie talks about her encounter with a coyote. Although she isn’t talking about a child nor a human, she shows a lot of emotion for wanting to help the coyote even though the coyote doesn’t seem like it needs her help at all. It gives off signals that its survival isn’t dependent on Debbie’s feeding.
The coyote’s body confidence, high ears and low tail shows its independence and freedom of play. But, Debbie still wanted to feed this coyote. In the text, she says, “The urge to feed him was overwhelming, but our group was not in perfect accord. Stuart was keenly attuned to the longer term consequences of engaging in a relationship we wouldn't be there to sustain. But I longed to leave food for him.” (Debbie, 2) Why did she still have the urgency? Debbie’s corrupt mindset of thinking something/someone else is inadequate is not free. Debbie wanting to feed the coyote isn’t an innocent act. Coyotes aren’t dependent on any human being.
So, who are we as human beings? How can we label someone else as needy, yet don’t live their lives. In Teju Cole’s The White-Savior Industrial Complex, he writes, “He does not connect the dots or see the patterns of power behind the isolated "disasters." All he sees are hungry mouths, and he, in his own advocacy-by-journalism way, is putting food in those mouths as fast as he can. All he sees is need, and he sees no need to reason out the need for the need.” (Cole, 1) He was writing about his view about Kristof. Within his text, he talks a lot about how people have this image of Africa being a hopeless place. Therefore, the White-Savior has to come to help feed Africa. The concept of play is very similar to what Cole describes. It questions is anything ever free.
Cole describes the White-Savior coming to help the poor people of Africa without ever acknowledging their own abilities as an independent country. It’s nice to be there to help, but only if needed because instead of helping, it can hinder their own potential. Cole goes onto express his claim by saying, “There is the principle of first do no harm. There is the idea that those who are being helped ought to be consulted over the matters that concern them.” (Cole, 1) I agree with this approach in particular, because society is so quick to label and to direct children. In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s call to feminism, she expresses her concerns by saying, “Because I am a female, I am expected to aspire to marriage, I am expected to make my choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Marriage can be... a source of joy and love and mutual support. But why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don't teach boys the same?” Adichie says. “We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are. If we have sons, we don't mind knowing about our sons' girlfriends, but our daughters' boyfriends? God forbid. But of course when the time is right we expect those girls to bring back the perfect man to be their husband.” How much is play influenced by the people who play instead of the overseers? How much does play come from the people who do play? It leads to assumptions that play is very limited and is never free.
Citations (MLA):
Bury, Liz. "Beyoncé Samples Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Call to Feminism." Theguardian. N.p., 13 Dec. 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2014. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbooks%2F2013%2Fdec%2F13%2Fbeyonce-samples-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-feminism-talk>.
Rose, Cooke and Van Oooren. "Ravens at Play." N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2014. </oneworld/system/files/RoseRavens2.pdf>.
COLE, TEJU. "The White-Savior Industrial Complex." The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group, 21 Mar. 2012. Web. 10 Oct. 2014. <http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-white-savior-industrial-complex/254843/>.