The Power of Play

The Power of  Play

My Three year old granddaughter doing what all kids love to do , ride their tricycle 

My granddaughter riding her grandmas bike , the same type that I used to ride

Me doing what I always and still do love to do best, playing in the water 

My brother and me playing with our homemade boats at our  cottage, the most magical place on earth to me

How fun riding the tire swing just like in our day, but my granddaughters is pink

Playing at the beach s a favorite of every generation, here is my grandson to prove it

  

My beautiful mother and fabulous brother and me enjoying our little beach  together at the cottage

Our family enjoying the beach together at the cottage

               Some Valuable Quotes Supporting Play Seen        Through My Playful Eyes 

“Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable. Without it, life just doesn’t taste good” Lucia Capocchione

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”George Bernard Shaw

“Play has been man’s most useful preoccupation.” Frank Caplan
Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.O. Fred Donaldson
Creative play is like a spring that bubbles up from deep within a child. Joan Almon

     As a child the games I remember playing the most were skipping, roller skating with the old fashion kind that clamped on your shoes with a key to tighten and loosen them,cowboys and Indians, and cops and robbers when we played with the boys. The places we frequented were the fields at the end of our street that went on for miles and miles with the big pond, where we would look for frogs and snakes, or the woods behind our house where we let our imaginations run wild and our bodies with it.     But if I was to pick one spot with one special friend it would be the little beach at our cottage. My best friend Valerie and I would spend hours playing at the beach creating our own little world. We would use pine needles, pine cones from the tress, clam shells from the water and best of all acorns  and their caps to create our villages in the sand.The other major ingredient we needed was water which we would collect in our pails from the lake. We would dig holes in the sand  and pour the water into our holes in which we would create our witches brew. Yes, we were witches and quite evil at that. We would pretend to capture little children, poison them with our witches brew and bury them in our sandy graveyard. Yikes, I am scaring myself.Why we did this only a psychiatrist knows, or do they. Fantasy, imagination and team work, e merest  in this magical place, where we were powerful , and in control. Mixing our witches brew was the most phenomenal fun thing to do along with making spells. Little did our parents know that evil witches were lurking right under their nose, but they brought us picnic lunches all the same, and tucked us in at night.     Play was what we did while growing up. We spent long hours every day playing. Our parents would encourage us to go outside and play with our friends, or  have our friends over.That was our life, or our work as some say.     Now it is different. There is more fear around our children going out to play. Nature has been paved into concrete, and has become something we have to go  to to visit. Children now a days still play because that is instinctual, but technology is strongly influencing the modes of play that our children engage in. Board games and cards are becoming a thing of the past and I feel saddened by this.     I really do agree with the  previous quotes that play is the magic ingredient in keeping us young mentally and physically and it fills our spirits with joy. Once play is eliminated from our lives the child in us is imprisoned , we must each free the child within us and let play led us through our days.     

Posted by Elizabeth Bell at 9:58 PM 1 comment: 
Posted by Elizabeth Bell at 9:58 PM 1 comment: 
Posted by Elizabeth Bell at 9:58 PM 1 comment: 
Posted by Elizabeth Bell at 9:58 PM 1 comment: Posted by Elizabeth Bell at 9:58 PM 1 comment: 
Posted by Elizabeth Bell at 9:58 PM 1 comment: 
Posted by Elizabeth Bell at 9:58 PM 1 comment: 

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Perfect Parents Need Not Apply | Blink–And They're Grown

Perfect Parents Need Not Apply | Blink–And They're Grown

Learning to Underparent -- New York Magazine

Learning to Underparent -- New York Magazine

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Relationship Reflection

 When I reflect on my current relationships I realize that my first positive  relationships as a child have enabled me to create all of my future relationships. Due to fact that I was very sheltered and nieve  with a huge loving and forgiving heart I allowed others to come into my life who were often cruel and I would forgive them until I had finally had enough abuse and chose myself and my children over them.This is  where I see that nature our nurture has strong bonds. I was adopted as an infant at only a few weeks old to the most stable, loving and supportive parents , however my adult relationships have taken me on a roller coaster ride similar to that of my birth mother, who I only met as an adult.We both ended up birthing seven children and had multiple abusive relationships.Is it in the genes? I believe a great deal of it is .

        I now have seven children who I adore ranging in age from 36 to 16, and six amazing grandchildren ranging in age form 2 to 10 years old . They are my strength and my reason for living, they also have become my best friends. I could not have manged through these years without the support of my loving husband .We meet 33 years ago and have been together for almost twenty years.  However it was not a picnic.  We both have  to work at this relationship everyday. We are actually opposites in every aspect yet we have had  to  learn to cooperate with each other in order to support each other and  our family. His love for me is so powerful that he won't let go and I have come to realize that even though I want to run  he is my support , and I need to bless him and love him for that .Not every one  is easy to love, and he came from a very difficult and abusive childhood.He seeks the love and safety of my port and I thrive from his determination and undying love for me and our children.

                       Photographic Journey With my Family; Children, Grandchildren and our  Husbands

                                                        My Oldest Daughter and grandaughter

                                                             My Oldest Grandson

                                                                         My Family

                                                           My oldest granddaughter

                                                     My third daughter and her partner

                                                      My second daughter on her wedding day

                                                          My first child with his wife

                                                                 My daughter and granddaughter

                                                                   Daughter and grandson

                                                          My fourth daughter

                                                          Me and my two last teenagers

                                     Beautiful couple , my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter

                               Happy wedding day; my Husband, my son, and my two son-in-laws

                                                           My son and daughter-in-law

                                                                    My second grandson

Me and my granddaughter and new grandson 

  

                                           My husband and son and me at his high-school grad

My son and daughter

Me and three of my grandchildren

Me and my hubby long ago 

My son and I

                                                                Grandson , 6months old

                                                              Grandson 9 months old

                                                                        My husband

                                 My two year old  grandson drumming with the big men at the African dance class

                                                              Grandpa and grandson shopping

                                                       Our son playing football in College

Lovely family, my daughter and partner and grandson Trey

Through my journey of strong love and support as a child I am able to give this to others. Through my journey of motherhood I am able to understand child development and relate to parents and their journey through childbirth and child rearing. Through my own journey I have compassion for families who are struggling through poverty and abuse and addiction. Through my journey I know the benefits of loving and nurturing relationships, and I in turn am now responsible to provide that for my children, grandchildren,my   partner as well as all of my associates. It's a big job but love is the greatest blessing and love is what we all need.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

CHILDREN REFLECT THE TREATMENT THEY RECEIVE

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

WHEN I THINK OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT

(2) Facebook

THIS SAYS IT ALL

WHEN I THINK OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Elizabeth Bell  click here to watch the video

  HERE IS AN AMAZING TWO YEAR OLD , CHILD DEVELOPING

                        KEEP GOING...

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Children are great imitators . So give them something great to imitate.

Welcome to my Blog. Passion,Motivation and Wisdom, are three ingredients that when blended together create a beautiful relationship within the Early Childhood world of children and teachers, as teachers are children andchildren are teachers.