First off the word play can mean being involved a wide variety of things/activities so obviously having different interpretations of this word just comes with the territory.  Play is generally set up in society to be different for childen, teens, and adults, for boys and girls, in school versus the playground, with family versus with friends, and the list goes on.  With all these different constraints that already comes with the word play adding in where someone is from and their own experiences with play makes play really problematic. Some "games" that I would consider odd and/or too dangerous to be playful others may enjoy.  This includes the time I went to Florida to visit family and was told that they were going out hunting.

There are two sides to the argument of play. The beneficial aspect of play and the problematic aspect of play. Play can cause sadness, lonliness, hurt feelings, and anger. I believe that all of these negative feelings are caused by bullying and alienation. Not every kid is included in group games and it is hurtful. I have definitely had hurt feelings when other children did not want to play with me or include me in their games. There are pros and cons of growing up and I believe that one of the main cons is feeling left out.

I spent the majority of my first grade year sitting in a tree- watching the other kids play ball. I was too clumsy to join them and so I spent recess by myself, clambering through branches and trying to convince myself I didn't mind. I was sure I was the only one to feel relief at the sound of the bell signaling that it was time to return to class and if anyone had told me I was lucky to suffer no worse exclusion I wouldn't have believed them. But I was. I was neither bullied nor shunned and could join in the occasional activities that didn't involve the ability to throw or catch. Not only is play painful for many children but it also has the potential to be damaging.

While play can be amusing and help children create relationships and learn, play can also be problematic. When play becomes too gendered and boys are expected to play sports and fight while the girls are expected to sit nicely and have tea parties, play becomes problematic. Limiting children and telling them that they cannot do something because of their gender is problematic and leads to low confidence as well as other societal problems. I think that another way play can be problematic is when children begin to exclude or bully others. This playing can lead to agression problems for the bully and self esteem and isolation for the victim. These are two ways that play could potenially be problematic. 

We often think of play as an inherent characteristic of childhood that lies far from the social inequalities of the "adult" world, but recently I've been thinking about racial dynamics and how they exclude many children from innocent play. This idea surfaced for me when I read about the power relations that may prevent people from benefiting from transgressive play in industrial ruins in Edensor and his colleague's article.

Play may be problematic in that it causes exclusions and arguements. A child may not know how to play the game or may not want to play while everyone else does. Now that child will feel left out or pressured into playing that game she did not want to in the first place. Also, playing may lead to teasing or bullying. Children do not know better so they are more prone to say whats on their mind which may be hurtful. A specific example of exclusion that happened in my life was when attending birthday parties everyone always wanted to play truth or dare. I never felt comfortable playing so I would always opt out and I was usually the only one who chose to do so. As a result, I also felt left out. Furthermore, when playing two children may disagree about the rules of the game.

We touched on this in class. When gender is added to play it changes how we view this innocent act. It adds rules to something that is suppose to be free and chaotic. Boys should only play with action figures and should play rough, pull hair, get dirty. Girls should only play with dolls and should stay inside unless they're playing something light like hopscotch or jump rope something that involves a song. When these lines are crossed children are judged and reprimanded. Like when my male cousin would play barbies with me, other family members would whisper behind our backs and when my female cousin wouldn't the same family would talk. It is breaking social norms that confine us into a gender binary that only fullfills its "traditional" roles of dainty women and manly men.