Monday, July 28, 2008

“Imagination---Life is Your Creation”

Kids love to play pretend. They have kitchen sets where they get to “cook”. They have tool boxes where they get to “fix” things. They like doing things where they are imitating what they see done by adults.

If you ask a kid what he wants to be, he will usually say a police officer, fire man, or Hatzollah cause these are jobs they imagine as important jobs. One girl I babysat, when asked what she wants to be when she grows older, she said a insurance broker. She said it because that is what her father is, and she wants to be just like him.

Kids have so much fun playing cops and robbers. Chasing each other around and putting them in jail. They like playing doctor and stitching up a patient. They like playing hair dresser and cutting hair. They like getting dressed up into “Mommy” clothes.

Now why is it that kids like to play pretend and have such a vivid imagination. It is because in the future when they become adults they are going to have to do some of these roles. So now as a kid they can imagine it, see it in a fun way, and get used to it, so that when they are older they will be ready to take on the adult role and do it the real way.

When a fireman, police man, teacher, doctor, Hair dresser or any other worker is asked why they chose that profession, a lot of them will say it is because as a child they always imagined having that profession, it was their dream job. But then there are those that end up in jobs they never dreamed they would have, because things change as people get older and they start to see the world in a different way. But over all, most still value their child views.

Even though a child imagining things seems to be based on fantasy, its actually based on reality. A girl will play with doll houses imagining she’s a Mother. While a boy will play with a Police car imagining he’s a police officer. These are positions that they have the potential of filling, so they are based on reality.

20 comments:

  1. Well I wanted to be the president when I was younger... until Obama stole my idea :)

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  2. I doubt most kids end up doing what they wanted to as kids. As a child, everything is easy, when you grow up, you realize all of those cool careers take a lot of effort. And if you're frum and living in Brooklyn, you're also told that those are not thing a good Jewish boy/girl should be doing.

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  3. LS"D

    Kinder in myne kehilla iz alwayz playink mit metches because Tatty iz always brinkink home lotz of gelt when he playz mit metches in hiz fektory!

    Besser dey should wait far bar mitzveh to helf der fathers mit der buziness bekuz den dey ken be trusted to shpil mit benzine in metches oichet!

    Den dere iz der yingel in myne chyder vet shpil "insurence adjuster" bekuz hiz tatty iz alwayz de one ver adjusts der insurence to meke sure it iz paid!

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  4. Life in plastic, it's fantastic.

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  5. "Hatzollah"

    that's pretty funny.

    "Kids have so much fun playing cops and robbers"

    really? when i was growing up, all out pretend play revolved around guns. cops & robbers, cowboys & indians, war, etc.

    today kids don't generally play with guns and i would have thought that cops & robbers would be passe

    "Even though a child imagining things seems to be based on fantasy, its actually based on reality."

    if by reality you mean social construction, then yes

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  6. Moshe: That's true...so it doesn't have to be career choice. I was listening to Ari Goldwag's Parshah Podcast and he mentioned that when he was in play group, about 2, 3 years old, they asked the kids what their dream vacation would be. Most kids said: "Disney Land", "Florida", "California", and he answered "Eretz Yisroel", he had gone to a zionistic hebrew day school, and his parents would always talk about Israel, so that is why he wanted to live there as a Child. Then when he got married, where did he move to? He moved to Israel cause that was his dream place when he was a child.

    The point is basically little kids have role models, so they like to play pretend, as if they are their role model, this helps them, for when they get older. Whether its just the role of mother and father.

    Frum College Girl: yes, it is! I liked how the line sounded and I figured it fit the topic.

    Moshe: how do you know the Barbie Girl song?

    Lion of Zion: I meant to say Hotzollah man.
    well, where I live its a game, where one person is "it" they have to count to 10 by a tree, then everyone is running around and they have to try to tag them, then the person they tag becomes "it". I haven't played in so may years, since I'm not a kid anymore, but that's what I remember of it.

    One of the kids I babysat had a walkie talkie and he always made believe he was a police talking into a radio. He also had a microphone and he liked pretending he was from the Yeshiva Boys choir, he would copy all their motions, hide behind a wall till the song started and then he would come out and make an entrance and take a bow, all of that is pretending, but its still based on something real. He hoped to one day be in the choir. Even if he doesn't get in the choir it helps him practice singing, helps him become not shy of singing in front of people. These things can be helpful when he becomes an adult.

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  7. And I know the parodies too, ugly girl, dutch version, etc. ;-)
    You know caramelldansen?
    I don't just listen to JPop, European stuff too, especially if it sounds fun. Basshunter and all the parodies.

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  8. Moshe: That Caramelldancen is pretty funny. I could see the song being on Dance Dance Revolution ;)

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  9. Moshe: that song sounds familiar, its so cute.
    Never heard of Bass hunter.

    Mike: I could see that too. I never knew it was called Dance Dance Revolution though, that's wear they try to dance for a game, and copy the steps. Now I see they have online versions too and not just those wii ones.

    This is so cool A 5 year old doing dance revolution

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  10. I made an MP3 of Carmelldansen I'll have to wait till after the 3 weeks to enjoy listening to it though.

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  11. Search on youtube for Basshunter and botten anna.

    You can buy the DDR mat and connect it to computer. There's an opensource program for it.

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  12. Moshe: that was funny, its backwards in a way.

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  13. Yeah DDR is awesome. Excellent for fitness too. I used to play it at arcades but you can play at home too with a computer/playstation. The games are pretty expensive though.

    Moshe: Would you mind divulging the whereabouts of open source program to me? ;)

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  14. The program is called StepMania and all downloads are free.
    You need to buy at least 1 mat and it usually comes with a USB adapted.

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  15. Moshe: thanx for sharing about that program, I downloaded it and I ordered a mat from amazon on a whim, it sounds like fun.

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  16. How much you paid?
    And did you make sure it had a usb adapter?

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  17. I got this one Dance Dance Revolution Multi-Platform Super Sensors Energy Non-Slip Dance Pad It looks like it works well with step mania and it has a USB port thing. When I checked a different site it looked like it cost over 100 dollars, so I figured 30 isn't so bad.

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  18. I got 2 PS2 dancepads + adapter for I think $30 on ebay. Though had some problems with them on and off. This one is native usb, should work better.

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