My son is almost 4 years old. We play a variety of sports in the backyard, at the schoolyard and in our driveway. Our driveway is not that wide or long, so recently I decided to expose my son to a dissapearing Canadian custom, Road Hockey. I actually had to convince myself that it would be safe and that it was a good idea to play on our quiet Toronto sidestreet. So off we went, our 10 month old daughter in her harness on my back, my son, 2 hockey sticks purchased at a garage sale and a tennis ball.
Before we stepped onto the road I explained the rules. "When Daddy says, CAR, go to the closest sidewalk as soon as possible and stay there until Daddy says you can return to the street". My son nodded to confirm he understood the rules. For good measure I had him repeat them to me, "So what happens when Daddy says CAR?". He paraphrased my instructions to my satisfaction. When we took the first step on the road it was like a step of freedom. We proceded to pass the tennis ball back and forth. My daughter was sleeping in her harness on my back. I noticed the first car turning onto our quiet street. Time to test the instructions. I yelled "CAR!". With excitement and precision my son ran to the closest sidewalk, watched the car pass and waited for the all-clear from Dad before stepping back onto the road. Soon my son started scanning the road behind me between passes, for any cars approaching. It was amazing to watch his awareness of his environment grow. He used his vision and auditory skills as his car radar. After a couple more times of me calling "Car" and both of us executing the plan, my son started to feel empowered to trust his growing awareness. If a car approached behind me he started to call "Car".
In addition to his growing awareness, the increase in space on the street allowed him to learn the consequence of not effectively stopping the ball with his stick. He learned that he had to run to get the ball if it skipped over his stick blade. This natural consequence led to an increased level of focus when he was accepting a pass. The additional space also gave him the opportunity to use multidirectional movement and physical literacy to stop passes that weren't aimed right at him.
The Fall 2010 issue of Pursuit Magazine features an article called "WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO PLAY?". This is a must read for parents of young children as well as parents to be. The article focusses on the lack of physical activity with Ontario youth. More than that, it challenges our new culture. Our culture of fear with respect to our children. Children don't play at the school yard, more children are driven to school now more than ever before and people certainly are not playing road hockey any more. Why. Fear and inconvenience. Parents are afraid of their children being scooped up by a psychopath and it's easier to register the kids in a league, than it is to roll the ball out at the school yard and play with our children or supervise a group of children playing. More and more students are being driven to school because it's easier. This article is very important as it points to the solution being a cultural change. While we may be making life easier for children in the short run we may be condeming them to life of obeisity riddled with heath issues in the future.
Urban sprawl has changed life. As personal property has grown, in certain areas, there is no longer need to congregate at the school yard, because every child can play by themselves in their own driveway or backyard. Urban sprawl has also challenged the pedestrian lifestyle as there is more and more distance between home and school so it seems to only make sense to drive the kids to school.
We encourage our children to be independant thinkers, self motivated, conflict resolvers and to develop self confidence and make friends. We look to the schools and community programs to facilitate this. Give your child a ball and go with them to the school yard. Be a guide on the side if there are other children at the park to play with and watch them create their own game, rules, norms and values, all without you. Similarly, instead of driving your child to school, walk with them. As they get older stop a block short of the school and let them walk the final block on their own under your supervision. Increase the distance they are walking on their own and if possible pick up one of their friends up on the way to create a buddy system.
How did we get here from a simple game of Road Hockey? Fear is the reason why there are fewer Road Hockey games played in Toronto. Not to mention the oppressive neighbors who call the police on kids playing road hockey. Fear is the death of free play with children and with children facilitating their own way to school in the morning. Let's consider the benefits. In 45 mins playing Road Hockey with my son on our quiet sidestreet, his awareness grew exponentially. That awareness could lead to self preservation in certain situations as he becomes more aware of environment and understands how to apply the rules Mummy and Daddy create for his benefit. This Road Hockey situation is an example of how to build learning environments for our children so that they can become self directed, benefit from discovery based learning and accessible physical activity. I never even touched on the fact that Road Hockey and child facilitated transportation are free types of physical activity.
Read the PURSUIT MAGAZINE article and let me know your opinion.
