Parten's Categories of Play

I have taken Tray to a playground in the town where my college is located a few times and after he has exhausted himself out on the slide and starts playing in the sand, I find myself people watching. It's interesting to me to watch different children (almost all older and more mobile than Tray) play and interact and it turned the magic light bulb on for this post. In my developmental psychology class we discussed Mildred Parten's research regarding the correlation between children's play patterns and their social development. The research grouped play into six categories which illustrated the degree of children's social development. it fascinates me to be able to see concepts and research come to life (call me a geek, it's ok!)

1.  Unoccupied behavior describes the child who doesn't really seem to be playing but watches anything of momentary interest. This is my son when we first arrive on the playground; he likes to sit back and take it all in before he makes a decision about what he wants me to help him play on. He watches the other children, the trees, the cars entering and leaving the parking lot and after a while points, grunts and attempts to tell me what's interesting in his little one and two words sentences.

2. Onlooker behavior describes the child who spends most of the time watching other children play, may talk to them, but does not enter into the play. I've seen several little ones engage in this type of behavior, so intent and curious but not ready to make the move.

3. Solitary independent play describes the behavior of children who play alone with toys or objects that are different from those used by children near them but they make no effort to join in the other children's play.

4. Parallel play describes the behavior of children who play independently among other children and who play with similar toys as used by the other children (although not necessarily in the same way). They tend to play beside others without influencing the other children's play. This is the play my son assumes after his unoccupied behavior. I've seen so many children around his age do the same thing, all relatively close to each other but playing away in their own little world rather uninterested or shy.

5. Associative play describes behavior of children who play with others, taking, borrowing and lending toys, following others, and deciding who is playing in the group. Children engaged in this category play similarly is not identically, there is no division of labor or organization surrounding any goal in the activity. The children appear to be more interested in being in the company of the other children than in the actual activity that is going on.

6. Cooperative or organized supplementary play describes the behavior of children who play in groups organized around a goal, rather it be to make something, play a formal game, or dramatize a situation. One or two children control who belongs in the group and also direct the activities, the others in the group take on different roles, supplementing each other's efforts. The last time Tray and I were at the playground a group of little girls were cooperatively playing together and just listening to the level of organization of the game astounded me; they couldn't have been older than 8 but the amount of rules to remember had me guessing!

Socially, Tray is cautious but he is also 15 months and after a given amount of time spent observing he generally decides to explore what interests him. I've also found that on different days he plays differently which is perhaps dictated by his perception of the uncertainty of a situation. How do your little ones play?

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!

Another one bites the dust...

A few days after I wrote my last post, my Dell decided to keel over and die. It started with my power adapter shorting out toward the end that connects into my computer and then the power button itself decided to retreat inside the screen slot, like a scared turtle. So I packed it up and visited my nearest Geek Squad location (which is approximately 55 miles away) thinking I would just buy a new power adapter and have the computer sent in to get the button fixed. Hahaha, right. My Geek Squad guy, who was very helpful, informed me that it would be nearly as much as I paid for the computer to fix the button and buy a new cord. Seriously? I can't believe it is that labor intensive to replace the button! I realize there is rewiring to do once you get the computer apart but is it really that difficult? Apparently. I am thankful my squad member was able to work his magic and retrieve things I needed off of the computer because it wouldn't even turn on (I wonder what really goes on behind those black curtains at Best Buy?) I had a TON of edited pictures saved from Photoshop but they were only able to recover the original pictures before being edited...sigh. Next time I will remember to change the format so they can be rescued should anything happen! 

Long story short, I ended up having to purchase a new computer and picked out a Toshiba! I'm really excited to get things loaded onto it and start working with it; school has kept me busy with a presentation and the holiday weekend was spent with family, good food and of course fireworks! This has not been as productive of a summer as I would have hoped, but I'm crossing my fingers that this changes in a couple weeks! Hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th! 

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!

New 365 Pictures

I've been hoarding these photos and finally have a chance to put them up; more coming soon! On a constructive note, does anyone know of a widget or something else I can use to better organize the photos on the page without having to arrange them in a single line? Thanks in advance!

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!

Unstructured Creative Play

Play is an important aspect of development for humans just as it is for animals. Our society today focuses on structured activities and planned time for children such as sports music lessons,  extracurriculars and school. Less emphasis is placed on unstructured, creative and natural play in which children have the freedom and time to use their imagination, senses and truly be children. The American Academy of Pediatrics acknowledged the need for unstructured creative play with a report promoting a balanced lifestyle in terms of the type of activities child partake in and how children are affected later in life. Those with time balanced between structured activities and unstructured activities developed character traits for success. Our society is one in which life is hurried, technology reigns and toys instruct us how to play. The amount of time children spend engaging in unstructured play and natural play outdoors has decreased significantly since our parents were children.

Unstructured creative play has many benefits including helping children to manage stress, and reach important social, emotional and cognitive milestones. It allows children to create their own rules and games, not follow a preset. What children learn for themselves through unstructured, creative play is important and cannot always be provided by parents, teachers, coaches etc. According to Tom O'Leary, author of RetroActive: Skip, Hop and You Don't Stop (Games We Played), a book compiling over one hundred old school games from the seventies and eighties, unstructured, creative and natural play teaches children:

• How to resolve conflict through compromise
• How to be fair
• How to be tolerant
• How to adapt
• Teamwork
• To trust
• To learn to take chances
• To learn to laugh and not take themselves too seriously
• That they are children and play is fun, as it should be

It should be noted that structured activities are essential to development and learning but a balance should try to be achieved to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I am compiling a list of places I want to take Trayton this summer to engage in natural, unstructured and creative play, a kind of where we're going this week series. Even as a 14 month old I feel it is to his benefit to explore new places outside of the farm in his own way; touching, smelling, seeing, tasting (where applicable) and hearing as he toddles around chattering away and engaging the world around him.

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!

Pregnancy Awareness Month

May has been celebrated as Pregnancy Awareness Month, a time to educate families and empower women with resources for having healthy pregnancies. There are many factors which contribute to a healthy pregnancy and reduce the risk for complications including:

• Proper nutrition (a balanced diet)
• Healthy weight gain (depending on your weight at the time you become pregnant) 
• Drug intake (ask your physician before taking ANYTHING while pregnant)
• Alcohol consumption (while this should go without saying fetal alcohol spectrum disorders continue to affect children)
• Anxiety and stress (reducing and eliminating are beneficial to everyone) 
• Maternal and paternal age  
• Environmental hazards (chemicals, pollutants, radiation, extreme heat/humidity, etc.)
• Proper preconception care and monitoring of fetal development (ultrasounds, embryoscopy, amniocentresis, chorionic villus sampling, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, umbilical cord sampling, maternal blood test)

For more information, visit the official site of Pregnancy Awareness Month. Founded by Anna Getty and Alisa Donner in 2008 with initiatives focused on education, exercise, nutrition, and wellness & nurture, their campaign reaches out in an effort to support women and families. The site has a wonderful resource page full of recommended links to explore!  
 
Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!

Thoughts from Neverland

I am way overdue on this post, although I'm glad I waited until after Mother's Day because it allowed me to reflect on a few more things about motherhood. Recapping my first year as a mama, I found there to be so many things I never imagined myself doing...ever. Things that I found disgusting, disturbing and even quirky before I had my little guy, somehow fall into the realm of acceptable once you become a mother. For example:

I never thought I would be able to handle being peed on, pooped on, spit up on and chewed on (God forbid any of it get on me!) Now, I don't even think twice about it; I have refined my skills to avoid much of the situations and anything that does happen, oh well. We cloth diaper too (one of our best decisions ever) and I don't even flinch to scrape them, then throw them in the wash. Soap is one of my best friends :)

I never thought I'd be one of those mamas who ate after their children. However, I LOVE sharing with Tray and I love how interested he is to try new foods. He doesn't balk at food, even the most exotic dishes and I have yet to find something he truly does not like to eat.

I never imagined I would make it breastfeeding him for what has now been 14 months. This has been the single best decision I made for us and I plan to continue until he self weans; he has decreased his feedings since starting solid foods but we still share morning and before bed sessions. The bond we have created through breastfeeding is an incredibly close one and most of the time indescribable. Aside from all of the nutritional, developmental and physical benefits, I never knew how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.  

I never thought we would cosleep. There is so much negativity that surrounds cosleeping that the benefits and valid research supporting it are often over looked. The doctor that discharged me from the hospital (not my OB or regular doctor) told us not to start it, the media warns against it and in nearly every baby magazine you open there is some advertisement or article about the hazards. People don't take the time to do research for themselves and find out the truth. There are many resources for educating yourself about safe ways to cosleep and sound supporting research; for more info. check out my post on sleeping arrangements. Cosleeping has saved my sanity! It allows all of us to get more sleep, ease in breastfeeding, promotes bonding and a sense of secureness because I know Trayton is safely near. While the addition was being added to our house Trayton did not have his own room. I had his crib and accessories bought but no where to put anything. When I brought him home from the hospital I felt like I had missed out on getting these things ready and for him to use them. Little did I know at the time that this would have worked out so wonderfully for us!

I never realized just how little time I would have to get myself ready to go out, even to the grocery store. The simple solution to that was chopping off my hair (and I loved it!) I must say, as Tray has gotten older I do seem to have more time for this, whether I use it wisely depends on the day!

I never saw myself as one of those people who would dance or act like a crazy person to get their children to smile and giggle. Now I understand and I have joined the group! Baby giggles are addicting and I will do just about anything to get a reaction from my little guy when he's feeling grumpy! I've never been so happy over a simple little grin.

Before I had my son, I had never looked into someone else's teary eyes and felt my own well up as it happens with him and I never felt my heart break into a million little fragments when I couldn't stop the hurt. I guess it correlates to our bond because he has the ability to evoke an intensity if feelings I didn't even know existed within me.

I never knew I could give myself so easily to someone or love someone so much. I never imagined I would love being a mama. The past year has been such a growing and testing experience for me as a person. The knowledge is invaluable. I went from a very independent, confident, self-sufficient and self-centered lifestyle, to motherhood which is humbling, sometimes scary and demanding, interdependent and focused on my son and his best interests. I am so blessed to have this wonderful opportunity in life and I am looking forward to many more years of discovering the "I Nevers" of motherhood!


Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!

365 Day 4

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!