My Connections to Play

Quotes about Play:

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." -Plato 

 “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” -  Fred Rogers

I often played games in my sandbox. I could play house, become a chef, build a small town. I even had a worm farm in my sandbox.

My brothers and I when I was 7 years old.

I also played with dolls a lot as a young child. I was able to act out any story I wanted to. 


Play was an integral part of my learning as a young child. Whenever my mother tells stories about me as a child, she always mentions how imaginative I was. I remember using my imagination to create any story. My mother supported my imaginative play by providing me with resources to use while playing. I had toys, but she would sometimes let me use other things as well. For instance, even still today, I remember a time when I wanted to play hairdresser and she let me fill a squirt body with water so that I could 'do my dolls hair'. This is one way that she supported me through my play.

I think play is similar and different today with young children than it was when I was a child. I believe that children definitely still learn from play when given genuine opportunities, but I think that it is different for children today because children live in a different time. They have different kinds of technology and most of them have more access to technology. I remember being a child and having to earn t.v. time and even then it was mostly earning one show. I know a lot of children today who have unlimited access to video games, television, IPods, IPads and that is just to name a few. Although I am not saying every child lives like this but some do. There are many great benefits to technology and so many things that we gain from it. But I think when it comes to young children, we do them a disservice by exposing them to it too much and not giving them the opportunity to have genuine, uninterrupted play time.

I think play has played an important role in my life from the time I was a young child to today. Over the course of my life, I have come to find t that my learning style includes visual, auditory and tactile learning. Through learning this, I have come to find that tactile really can be a form of play for me as an adult. Sometimes learning things by being hands on means playing. Through field work and different experiences, I have learned this.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are important to me, because over the years I've come to realize that life is not meant to be lived alone and we are supposed to have people in our lives. Whether it be a professional life or a personal life, we are going to come into contact with different people. Some relationships we choose others we come into contact by circumstance. We do not choose the family we are born into, but one day if we choose to start a family, we do choose that family. I have also come to learn in my life that the only thing we can control is our own actions. It is inevitable that people are going to hurt us, but you need to decide who is important enough to stay. I saw a quote recently that said, "You don't lose friends in life, you simply find out who the real ones are." I have built a better relationship with my older brother, his wife and my nephew over the past year, I have a blossoming relationship with my current boyfriend, one of my best friend's Blair has been a major support in my life, I have a strong attachment to the little boy that I nanny for and I have a strong relationship with a former coworker who has become a sort of mother role in my life. These relationships are defining the current stage that I am at in my life.

My brother, his wife Julia and my Nephew Garrett, have become major part of my life. My family structure has shifted over the years and as some relationships have become less strong in my life, my relationship with my brother has gotten stronger. I think partially it is through the birth of his first son. I was able to be there for him and he was able to be there for me. Although we were not always close when we were younger, our relationship has definitely grown stronger.

I have had a lot of issues in my life regarding relationships with boys. After being hurt so many times, I came close to giving up all together. Although my current boyfriend and I do not have a perfect relationship by any means, I have really learned to trust again and to put aside my insecurities, even though it can be difficult.

 My relationship with my friend Blair is one that has really grown over the past few years. We have known each other for a while, but we have recently gotten closer. Blair is such a good listener and I think one things that has really helped our relationship to grow stronger is the fact that we can relate to one another in many ways. She has fears and insecurities when it comes to relationships in her own life, this has given us common ground to build our relationship on. We know that no matter what we can depend on one another.

 I currently work as a nanny for a little boy named Hank, he will be 2 in August. I have learned so much working for his family. Both about child development and also just about who I am in general. I used to work in a child care center and I became his teacher when he was four months old. Working with him from such an early age we definitely developed a strong attachment. I spend a lot of time with him and we have had some greats times and some rough times. Throughout all of it, I have been blessed to have the opportunity to be his nanny.

Veronica is a former coworker I met while working in child care. Although she has children that are my age and is a bit older than me, we have a lot in common and always got along very well. Even now, that I do not work at the child care center anymore, we keep in touch and she has become like a second mom to me. She is always there if I need advice or just someone to listen.

I think the older I get, the more I learn about relationships. I have some relationships that have hurt me and some that have helped me. It really just depends on the circumstances. Throughout it all though I have learned that I am a strong person and I need to be who I am regard less of how others treat me. It doesn't matter if you are the juiciest peach in the whole world, there are some people out there who simply do not prefer peaches. But just because people do not like, you does not mean that relationships are not important, you need to find your unique purpose and do it!