Playtime is Over? NO WAY!!

Wow, Dr. Phil has noticed us! His blog today, “Playtime is Over?” asks some good questions and while he expresses some skepticism and doubt about the role of recess coaches, he ultimately (albeit unwittingly) does a great job of making an argument for Playworks.
 
Dr. Phil writes: In my childhood, when we played kick ball at recess, we used an old Buick in front of Old Lady Jerkin’s house as our home plate. There were no gigs of memory, no schedule and no field. There was no coach out there telling us exactly how to play the games. We had to learn to choose teams, make the rules, follow them and settle disputes along the way. We had to learn how to entertain ourselves. Isn’t that precisely what we want our own kids to learn to do, too?
 
Yes!  Absolutely!  The thing is, though, we also had older kids who knew how choose teams, make the rules, and who taught us how to rock-paper-scissors when a disagreement broke out. When I was growing up on Macomb Street in Washington DC, the two older boys who I remember being in charge were Daniel Mintz and Geoff Schwartz.  And while we may have been unsupervised, the childhood play in Northwest DC was about the most structured thing I’ve ever been a part of.
 
Playworks is NOT about forcing kids to play organized games. It’s about giving kids the skills they need to make play happen, to experiment with their own capacity and responsibility in effecting the world around them, to connect with their peers, and to be fully engaged in all the fun and creative opportunities that Dr. Phil and I had when we were kids.
 
Dr. Phil, we’d love to have you come and check out a Playworks’ recess.  The question you raise, “Playtime is Over?” – is an extraordinarily important one.  And if Playworks has anything to do with it, the answer is a resounding NO!