Friday, March 25, 2011

Hi, my name is Chuck...

and I'm a DUMP truck! Anyone who has a toddler son probably has a good idea of who Chuck is. Kevin adores Chuck the dump truck and his dirty little crew of friends.

Now, I know it is unusual for me to write two blogs in one week, let alone one day! But I realized something tonight that amazes me, and I wanted to share.

In my journey of discovery in all things Waldorf, I've made some real interesting connections between toys and the way children play. Now, I've always been a big fan of anything educational...shapes, letters, numbers, etc. And I haven't really cared too awful much about the rest. But I've always wondered why Kevin doesn't like to play with most of his toys.

When I say "most of his toys" I really mean, like...90% of them. He likes them, on occasion, but he only enjoys playing with certain things and the rest just clutters the room, waiting for my bare foot to come down unexpectedly on it (why can't there ever be a stuffed animal under that stinkin blanket? Why does it always have to be blocks, trucks, or some otherwise jagged object?). Lately, I've been really examining which toys he chooses to play with and trying to wrap my mind around why he chose them.

A basic principle in Waldorf philosophy for child's play is well, to keep it simple stupid. Warm, inviting open ended toys are highly encouraged. Say...dolls without clothes or faces, or small wooden vehicles with wheels. Then it is up to the imagination of the child to decide what the toy is on any given day. When I first heard of this, I thought..."oh, that's neat. But not really. I mean, seriously? Do kids really do that? Yeah...right." This was a few years ago before Kevin could even play with anything. Leap Frog has the best, innovative teaching toys out there, right? Bright lights, cool sounds, all kids would adore those. And don't get me wrong, Kevin has truly enjoyed his fair share of hard plastic. At the rate of 10 minutes at a time.

Ever watched a child tear into a birthday present only to seem more interested in the packaging than the toy itself? We all think, "aw, how cute, why even spend the money on the toy, yada yada yada." Well, it finally dawned on me that maybe the kids don't want the toy because all it can be is what it is. But the box...now that can be anything. Seems more fun already, doesn't it?

In much frustration, I have walked into our living room on more than one occasion to find Kevin dipping his hot wheels into my large hospital water cup (taking them to the car wash) or bringing several boxes out of the recycling at once (to build a garage for these cars). Then on any other given day, he is at Publix (his words, I swear!) buying groceries...rather...those same recycled boxes...when I'm not looking.

So tonight, he took a book to my mom to read to him. I have not read this particular book to him and I really have no idea from where he retrieved it, actually. But it was a Chuck book. It came with his Chuck stunt park playset his adoring GiGi and PaPa got him for Christmas this year. In true PaPa form, one of the sets just wouldn't do, the boy NEEDS them all! Each set came with its own book and has some special feature, a fire truck stunt, garbage truck stunt, etc.

Well...as if the track isn't explanatory enough, the books literally spell out the story behind the playset, step by step. Like an instruction guide with pretty pictures for how to use this toy. Really...? Does my son need to know that Chuck wasn't being safe and that's how he ended up upside down on the bridge and only Rowdy (maybe?) can save him? What about the other friends? Why can't they save him? Why does he have to be stuck? Why can't he just fly down? Oh...because dump trucks can't fly? Who says?

Isn't that the point of imaginative play?

And what does it say for us when we take that role away from the child? Should we be surprised when they seem bored among a sea of definitive toys? Maybe new toys are not the answer, but different ones alltogether...

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