My Supports

Factors within my daily environment that are supportive to me are the help I receive from my husband with taking care of the house, the reassurance and monetary support I receive from my husband and family to keep up the great work of balancing being a wife, a mother, and a student; the acknowledgement from my boss of the continued hard work and progression I have made; the help I receive from my family with taking care of my daughter, like taking her to school, swimming lessons, daycare, or keeping her so that my husband and I can have an evening to ourselves. All of these supports are beneficial to me because they allow me to work as hard as I can so that my husband, daughter, and I can have the best life possible. It would be extrememly difficult to do anything without these supports in my life. I would not know how to balance being a wife, mother, student, and co-worker at the same time without these supports being in place. It is challenging at times with all of thes supports in place, so I would literally be crazy if they were non-existent. Trying to balance all of these roles every day makes me realize my purpose in life and how truly blessed I am to have such a strong and supportive family that always is there for me, no matter what.

A challenge that I chose to imagine was having a mental disorder, such as bi-polar disorder, and having to cope with that along with all of my normal daily tasks that I had listed above. The supports I would want would be the same as I had previously stated plus the added medical support to ensure my mental capacity was capable of handling all of these tasks. All of these supports would absolutely need to be in place and cosistent in order for me to be able to function appropriately. I have a friend who is bi-polar and she ha not been on medication since January. She also has no support other thanher husband, because she was born an raised in Haiti up until she was a teenager. She battles with balancing everything and not having support and I honestly feel so bad for her because I see how she struggles. I help out as much as I can, but I could only imagine what she has to deal with on a daily basis.

My Connections to Play

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”
― Plato

“We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything, than when we are at play.”
― Charles Schaefer

Thinking back to when I was younger, I have two older siblings and a twin brother whom I did much of my playing with. Of course we played with kids in the neighborhood, but there was nothing better than a game of kickball, or hopscotch, or playing double dutch in the middle of the street. I would have to say that my family was the most supportive of play and I could always count on a good game of something, especially during the summer months and after school during the school year. We would play for countless hours until the street lights came on. That was our signal anywhere that it was time to head back in the house for the evening. We would have family game nights and each member brought a game to share with us all. I still enjoy holiday gatherings where we keep the tradition alive.

Play today is COMPLETELY different from what it was back when I was a young girl. Many of these children nowadays rely on electronic devices as forms of play. They would rather sit inside on a nice day playing playstation or on the computer than go outside and enjoy the weather playing old school games. Kids at the childcare center that I am the Director are only exposed to active games such as kick ball, jump rope, obstacle courses, hoola hoops, etc. We try to incorporate activities children may not be exposed to while they are at home. Our hopes of implementing these methods of play are to encourage these children to get out and be more active when they are not in our care. We are also attempting to decrease the amount of obese children in our center by getting them to be active everday.

Play has had a major impact in my life. I have learned how to appropriately develop relationships with peers and with my husband. I remember making waffles with my headstart class and playing with the large parachute outside with my classmates during a field trip. I also remember track and field days where we ran races, played games, and had lots of fun. Considering I played to learn as a child, I have developed as a very well-rounded individual. I have earned a Bachelor’s Degree, a Master’s Degree and I am working on my second Master’s Degree. I have seen play working well with my 5 year old as well. She is very bright and on target with what she id supposed to know, and she has be exposed to play in her preschool classroom.