Shop by Topic
Shop by Product
ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues
<< Previous Issue
| View Past Issues | | Next Issue >> 
The Power of Play
July 26, 2007
What You Need to Be Warm
a poem by Neil Gaiman
A baked potato of a winter’s night to wrap your hands around or burn your mouth.
A blanket knitted by your mother’s cunning fingers. Or your grandmother’s.
A smile, a touch, trust, as you walk in from the snow
or return to it, the tips of your ears pricked pink and frozen.
The tink tink tink of iron radiators waking in an old house.
To surface from dreams in a bed, burrowed beneath blankets and comforters,
the change of state from cold to warm is all that matters, and you think
just one more minute snuggled here before you face the chill. Just one.
Places we slept as children: they warm us in the memory.
We travel to an inside from the outside. To the orange flames of the fireplace
or the wood burning in the stove. Breath-ice on the inside of windows,
to be scratched off with a fingernail, melted with a whole hand.
Frost on the ground that stays in the shadows, waiting for us.
Wear a scarf. Wear a coat. Wear a sweater. Wear socks. Wear thick gloves.
An infant as she sleeps between us. A tumble of dogs,
a kindle of cats and kittens. Come inside. You’re safe now.
A kettle boiling at the stove. Your family or friends are there. They smile.
Cocoa or chocolate, tea or coffee, soup or toddy, what you know you need.
A heat exchange, they give it to you, you take the mug
and start to thaw. While outside, for some of us, the journey began
as we walked away from our grandparents’ houses
away from the places we knew as children: changes of state and state and state,
to stumble across a stony desert, or to brave the deep waters,
while food and friends, home, a bed, even a blanket become just memories.
Sometimes it only takes a stranger, in a dark place,
to hold out a badly-knitted scarf, to offer a kind word, to say
we have the right to be here, to make us warm in the coldest season.
You have the right to be here.
-Neil Gaiman
a poem by Neil Gaiman
A baked potato of a winter’s night to wrap your hands around or burn your mouth.
A blanket knitted by your mother’s cunning fingers. Or your grandmother’s.
A smile, a touch, trust, as you walk in from the snow
or return to it, the tips of your ears pricked pink and frozen.
The tink tink tink of iron radiators waking in an old house.
To surface from dreams in a bed, burrowed beneath blankets and comforters,
the change of state from cold to warm is all that matters, and you think
just one more minute snuggled here before you face the chill. Just one.
Places we slept as children: they warm us in the memory.
We travel to an inside from the outside. To the orange flames of the fireplace
or the wood burning in the stove. Breath-ice on the inside of windows,
to be scratched off with a fingernail, melted with a whole hand.
Frost on the ground that stays in the shadows, waiting for us.
Wear a scarf. Wear a coat. Wear a sweater. Wear socks. Wear thick gloves.
An infant as she sleeps between us. A tumble of dogs,
a kindle of cats and kittens. Come inside. You’re safe now.
A kettle boiling at the stove. Your family or friends are there. They smile.
Cocoa or chocolate, tea or coffee, soup or toddy, what you know you need.
A heat exchange, they give it to you, you take the mug
and start to thaw. While outside, for some of us, the journey began
as we walked away from our grandparents’ houses
away from the places we knew as children: changes of state and state and state,
to stumble across a stony desert, or to brave the deep waters,
while food and friends, home, a bed, even a blanket become just memories.
Sometimes it only takes a stranger, in a dark place,
to hold out a badly-knitted scarf, to offer a kind word, to say
we have the right to be here, to make us warm in the coldest season.
You have the right to be here.
-Neil Gaiman
The latest addition to the Exchange Press bookstore is David Elkind's new book, The Power of Play: How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier, Healthier Children. In the book Elkind makes this observation...
"Several studies have compared children who attended preschool with an academic orientation with comparable children who attended a play-oriented program. The results showed no later academic advantage for children who attended the academic program. In addition, there was some evidence that children who attended the academic program demonstrated higher levels of test anxiety, were less creative, and had more negative attitudes about school than did the children attending the play program. The investigators concluded that since the academic program has no demonstrable benefits and a number of possible risks, there is little to defend it (Hirsch-Pacek, 1991).
"Other investigations demonstrate that low-income children profit from attending a quality early childhood education program, particularly when the program is play-based. In one study, children matched for IQ were placed in one of three types of preschool programs: a traditional play-based program, a Montessori program, and a didactic (emphasizing academic skills and rote learning methods) program. Traditional and Montessori preschool programs were more effective in promoting academic achievement than were the didactic preschool programs. The group difference in math and reading achievements favoring the children from non-academic programs were still evident at eighth grade (Miller, 1983)."
Hirsch-Pacek, K. (1991). "Pressure or Challenge in Preschool: How Academic Programs Affect Children." In Academic Instruction in Early Childhood, edited by L. Rescorla, M. Hyson, and K. Hirsch-Pacek. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Miller, L. B., & Bizzell, R. P. (1983). "Long-Term Effects of Four Preschool Programs." Child Development, 54(3): 727-741.
ExchangeEveryDay
Delivered five days a week containing news, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.
What is ExchangeEveryDay?
ExchangeEveryDay is the official electronic newsletter for Exchange Press. It is delivered five days a week containing news stories, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.
New PlayDesigns Fun Centers by Playword Systems®.
Keeping little bodies and minds going a gazillion miles an hour.
Comments (5)
Displaying All 5 CommentsThe Meadows SaCC
Seven Hills, NSW, Australia
Hi, I am interested in the book 'But They're Playing: interpreting Play to Parents'. Could you please send me a bit more information of the book ie description/outline of the contents.
Thankyou in advance for your assistance.
regards
Meiha
Anchorage, AK, United States
1991 & 1983? There must be something fresher to share with policy-makers and others outside the field who ask the "but what are they learning" question. This is especially true in Alaska, where the conversation is just beginning.
Wellfleet, Massachusetts, United States
It's rather ironic that the excerpt from the new book by David Elkind, celebrated author of "The Hurried Child," is followed by an ad for a product with the promise of "keeping little bodies and minds going a gazillion miles an hour."
Also, the author of the 1991 article referenced in the excerpt is Temple University's Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, not "Hirsch-Pacek."
California State University, Northridge
Northridge, California, United States
It is very important that the power of play be at the center of early childhood programs. A good play-based program for children is simple--and complicated. The teacher and caregiver need to provide a materials-rich environment that meets the play interests and needs of those children with whom they are working. Academic-style programs may look more orderly to the observer; it may seem that the teacher is "really teaching" when teacher-directed methods dominate. But we need to notice that in research exploring these academic crazes over time, what is confirmed is the critical importance of "play-based" programs that acknowledge the social-emotional and mental health needs of our young children. Young children are NOT "students" in the limited sense of "academics"; they are whole CHILDREN--with physical, emotional, social, cognitive and linguistic RIGHTS.
Metropolitan Family Services
Chicago, IL, United States
One of the most wonderful movies I have ever seen to capture the power of family and the relationships between generations was "Himalaya". The cast of this film, most of whom were not professional actors, was truly outstanding, particularly the young boy and his grandfather and how every family, regardless of their culture, goes through transitions in life.
Post a Comment