World Play Day Message
Allow a child to play today. Watch a child play today. Play with a child today. We want our children to grow into well adjusted, well educated, useful and happy people; but how can we ensure that this happens. Think how much time you spend giving one hundred percent attention to a child everyday. How does each child make his first human relationships? How much hard exercise does he get every day? And then ask yourself how much time each child spends watching television, watching videos and playing with the computer, or even multi casting. Then ask another question how much time does each child spend in close contact with an adult who cuddles him, shows intense interest in what he is doing and talks with him? You will find without a doubt that every child spends more time with machines than with human beings. Yet it is human beings who can help him to make relationships, converse and be a happy person. We are living in an age of information overload. Information is no good to us if we do not know how to use and share it. If a child is unable to relate to and converse with other human beings, he will not be a useful, happy person. In other words, on-line experiences are no substitute for off-line experiences. If he has learned to communicate his ideas through the spoken word and to acknowledge his feelings in human relationships, he will have laid the ground work for quick learning through any media that is available to him.
One of the most important things about play is that it gets us in touch with other human beings. In order to give our children the opportunity for healthy development mentally, physically, emotionally and educationally, to give them the basis of a healthy, wholesome and happy life we must allow them to develop through the way that is most natural to them; and that is through PLAY. More importantly, play with other people and particularly within the family. The reason for promoting a WORLD PLAY DAY is to emphasize the importance of play in all our lives and particularly in the lives of our children. Children learn to talk though play, they learn to make friends through play, they get exercise through play; they also acquire the basic skills for formal education such as concentration, imagination, self-expression and the retention of useful facts. Let a child play today and ensure his happy, useful and healthy future.
Freda Kim, M.B.E., Ph.D.
World Play Day Coordinator
World Play Day Poster ALF
France has design a templete to share with everyone.
Please feel free to use them in your own environments with acknowledgements to ALF and the illustrator.
