All My Children

The more opportunity a child has to enjoy the richness and freewheeling fantasy of play in all its forms, the more solidly will his development proceed. Later encounters with learning, games, and sports will strengthen and enhance his knowledge and mastery of the world. But for games and sports, or even for learning to be fully meaningful, his prior experience with play must already have provided a firm foundation. This is why culturally deprived children who had little chance to play and were little played with by parents have such a hard time in school—without the experience of succeeding in play, they do not trust themselves to succeed in school. For this reason, it is not sufficient for parents to wait to share in play activities when they reach a more formalized stage. The older child’s activities may offer more intrinsic interest to a parent, but by that time it may be too late. Both kinds of experience—play and games—are necessary for growing up well. Children lose out on a great deal if TV viewing or even activities such as academic learning prevent them from having rich experiences with both play and games. The ability to enjoy games builds on the play experience. Continue Reading »

Giving a party can be a great deal of fun. It can be held to celebrate something special, or because it’s a particular time of the year; or it can be a spur of the moment get-together with friends. But whatever the occasion you’ll want it to go with a swing. And the nicest parties are usually those which have some careful planning behind them: ideas to get them going, and ideas for toning them down if they get too exuberant. Continue Reading »

Dear Amy,

I know that during this past week you have suffered pain like never before, the burden that you bear is perhaps the heaviest you’ve ever carried. Yet through it all God assures us: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness”.

And one thing I’ve come to realize is that God has not declared that life is over because of an unplanned pregnancy. God has great plans for your future. You have not been disqualified from the race. In fact, He plans to draw you closer to Him and teach you to know Him better than you have ever known Him before. Once we realize that our main purpose in life is to know God and glorify Him, life comes into proper perspective. And I believe, Amy, the more you and I know Him and see life from His perspective, the more life and all its struggles and problems begin to be resolved. Continue Reading »

These factors, although given in summary form, are also found elsewhere, for example, the Philippines. Bearing in mind the comments of Vanistendael that the phenomenon of street children is not due to any single factor, but to a combination of elements and influences, let us look at some of the other factors in our South African situation which contribute to the phenomenon of street children. The list is not exhaustive in any way: Continue Reading »

Transition homes in the community

This is an area where it is extremely difficult to succeed. Because of the stigma attached to the street children, people in the community generally fear to accommodate them in their own homes. There is a tremendous need to educate the community in this regard; already the project held its first seminar in the township to make people aware of the street children’s plight and of its difficulties in finding transition homes, before the children can return to their own families. The project has also approached the churches for transition homes, but failed to obtain a positive response! As a result, it applied to the local township council and was given a piece of land to erect a transition home but funds are needed to build such a home to accommodate the children. Continue Reading »

Parents who do not consider that the child’s pleasure may not be parallel or equal to their own can create serious problems for him. An example of this can be observed in roughhousing play between parents and children. Children usually enjoy such play, but only up to a point. Most infants and small children enjoy being thrown up into the air and caught, if this is done with moderation and great care, and not for too long. Such limited play reassures them that they can safely lose contact for a moment with their parent without danger; further, it gives them confidence that their parents can turn potentially dangerous situations into safe ones. Continue Reading »

Few other types of play can quite compare with doll play for eliciting deep parental involvement. Still, there are many other aspects of children’s play which can affect a parent deeply, through recollections and other feelings it activates, particularly when a child’s play reminds the parent of having played with the same toy, or having played in similar fashion. Also, the older the child gets, the more easily do play activities echo not only the parent’s own childhood experiences, but also his present hobbies or recreations. For example, the teenager who can play a serious game of chess has an experience very similar to his parent’s in doing so. Continue Reading »

If we truly took our child’s play as seriously as we take our own tasks, we would be as loath to interrupt it as we are reluctant to be interfered with when we are working. This is the pattern demanded by consistency and a sense of fairness; and one reward for thus respecting our child’s play is that it enhances his own sense of play as an important activity in the whole context of family life.

This is not to say that parents always take play lightly. After all, we want our children to enjoy themselves; we buy them toys and take them to the playground; we are conscientious about providing opportunities to play. Continue Reading »

Despite everything that has been said, it is obvious that parents cannot always have direct empathy with their child’s play experience. But certainly it can help parents to become aware of the different needs, anticipations, and desires a child brings to his play, as long as the parent realizes and accepts the fact that divergences between parent and child do exist. And the greater the parent’s emotional involvement in play, the more beneficial it is to the child, and to the relation with each other. Continue Reading »

Years later, after his father’s death, the son became much more successful in his profession than his father had ever been. But he still had a hard time fighting his feelings of inferiority, the seeds of which, he was convinced, had been planted in this shattering experience. Afterward, he could never again trust himself when he thought he was doing well. Most of his memories of his father were a combination of a nostalgic desire for the paradise he had enjoyed before his father became convinced it was time to introduce him to the adult levels of stamp collecting, and his resentment over being suddenly criticized and made to feel inferior. Continue Reading »