My Supports

Support to me means a variety of different things.  My job provides financial and emotional supports.  It provides financial support for myself and my family and also emotional support to myself because I have the opportunity to do what I love each day.  My family provides emotional support to me daily with expressions of love and encouragement and daily conversation and contact.  My computers and IPAD provide me with support to pursue my Master's degree and assist with tasks needed for my job.  People that I work with provide an intellectual and emotional supportive work environment for me. 

Having those supports in my life helps make daily tasks easier and my life more productive and meaningful.  I am able to do the things I am doing because of the supports I have in place.  It would be very difficult for me to pursue my higher education if I did not have my family support because they understand the time commitment I need for my education.  The same rings true for my job as a preschool teacher.  My family knows that my job is not a 9-5 job and that teaching is also my vocation and passion.  Technology is a wonderful thing and I know I could still accomplish what I need to accomplish with pencil and paper but the technology saves me time which is time I can spend with my family.  I would not be happy working where I work if the people that I worked with were not friendly and supportive.  That's not to say that I don't work with people like that because I do.  However, I choose to find my workplace supports with people that share my vision and passion that I can go to as supports for assistance with the children I work with in my classroom.

One issue that I have been dealing with is my eyesight progressively getting worse.  About three years ago, I started wearing bifocals and my contacts are now multifocal.  I recently went to the eye doctor for my check up and my eyes are healthy but my prescription changed.  I've never had difficulty before I got bifocals with reading or farsightedness.  Now I am and I told the eye dr that it is getting difficult for me to read magazine articles and food labels with my contacts.  My son is allergic to tree nuts and peanuts and I need to be able to read those labels for him.  I have often thought about what I would do without my sight.  Not only would I not be able to read with my eyes but I would not be able to enjoy seeing the beauty around me every day with my sight.  I don't think I would be able to be a teacher of young children until I could deal with my loss of sight and how to adapt to my environment.  I would need a great deal of emotional and physical support from my family, friends and agencies to help me feel productive again.  I have watched my aunt lose her sight completely by the age of 84 and it stopped her in her tracks because she doesn't feel like she can do the things she wants to do anymore like read or write letters.

Everyone needs a supportive environment to thrive.  When people have support systems in place, it becomes easier for people to adjust and adapt to the curve balls that life might throw them.  My life has been full of curve balls but I have been able to get through whatever is thrown to me because of the support of my family, friends and community resources.





 

My Connections to Play

Quotes About Play

 



 

"Almost all creativity involves purposeful play."
Abraham Maslow

"So, in all these spheres—in painting, sculpture, drawing, music, singing, dancing, gymnastics, games, sports, writing, and speech—we can carry on to our heart’s content, all through our long lives, complex and specialized forms of exploration and experiment."
Desmond Morris

Essential favorites from my childhood

 



When I was little, one of my favorite things to play was house, especially when my mom was ironing my dad's handkerchiefs.  I would pull up my play ironing board and iron and iron right next to her.  I also loved games, Barbies, dolls and playing with the boxes that toys came in.  My mom always allowed my sister and I to cook in the kitchen with her so at a young age, I learned how to cook and bake.  My house was also filled with musical instruments so my love for learning to play an instrument started early and I started playing the violin in 4th grade.  My mom would also teach us how to knit, crochet, sew and cross stitch.  There was always playdough, paper and crayons available to us on a daily basis.  When I was growing up, kindergarten was only offered half day.  This didn't bother my mom one bit as she would always have something planned for us to do together when we came home from kindergarten that involved play.

My parents divorced when I was 9 years old and it was difficult because my mom wasn't able to be home as much as she was before but she always made sure that we were cared for at night and worked at night so she could be home for us when we got home from school.  My sister and I learned to play alot of board games, card games and read books when we came home.  Being able to play games with someone else helped me problem solve and sparked my creativity.  Music and crafts also sparked my creativity and I believe because I had these influences in my play with the help of my mother, I have grown into a creative and flexible thinking person.

Playing outside every day was part of my childhood and it saddens me that chidlren today are not given enough opportunities to play outside safely every day.  When I was in junior high and into high school, my friends and I used to bike on the bike paths that took us miles from our home.  We would stop at a candy or ice cream shop once we reached our destination and then return home on the bike trail.  I learned to be very independent at a young age without the use of cell phones and only relying on my common sense and payphones to stop and call to check in with my mother.

I have tried to create some of my childhood experiences in my own children and the preschool children that I teach.  We are fortunate to live down the street from the public library and as long as my children are not walking alone, I allow them to walk to and from the library.  Their school is near a mall so on early out days, they might ask me if they can walk with a friend over to the mall to see a movie or walk around the mall.  My children know to call me to ask permission and check in with me throughout the day.  With my preschool children, I take them on field trips that get them out and about and discover their surroundings but I also take them out on the rainy and snowy days as long as the temperature is appropriate for them and everyone has adequate clothing for the weather.   On a rainy day, we might go for a short walk with large umbrellas so the children can experience sights and sounds of the rain.

I have found that as I became an adult, I want to continue to play because I learn alot about myself and what children might experience.  I believe as adults, we need to engage in some form of play to keep our minds sharp, relieve stress and keep our creativity sparked.

As I was looking for quotes about play, I found the website listed below.  I encourage you to check it out as it has a Play Museum and a conference in April that addresses the importance of play.  There are also articles and research findings about play on this website.

Website to check out dedicated to the importance of play:
http://www.thestrong.org/