Creative Options for family recreational activities
Have you seen a 11-year-old making an oblong red tomato face just because he was refused to extend his online game time??? I’m actually looking at one right now as I am writing this blog. And his reaction has inspired me to write on this particular topic.
The original topic that I had selected was, “Creating the Right Aspirational Values in Children”. I’ll cover this some other day. For now, let’s bring our focus on why my son has made this long, oblong, tomato red face, as if he’ll just burst out into tears right now.
He’s trying to infuse so much of guilt in me. Oh God! All of this because My husband told him that he’ll be allowed to play online games on his mobile phone only if I permit. He came running to me with high hopes and obviously expecting that I’ll allow him. But I said NO. And that’s where the whole problem began. So instead of getting angry, I thought of transforming this (anger) energy into something constructive. And that’s how this blog came in to existence.
The whole point is: the paribhasha or the definition of recreational activities has changed over a period of time, or that’s what I have observed. It may not apply to each and every child or adult but at least to a certain group, it may apply.
Earlier, when I was in primary, between 1st to 4th grade, recreation meant the following activities:
1.???Nadi ke parvat (land and Water)
2.???Lapa Chupi (Hide and Seek)
3.???Colour colour game
4.???Dabba I spice (Actually its called I spy and we added a container to increase the difficulty level- also for some reason we would call it spice instead of spy… LOL)
5.???Brainvia competition: winner is he or she who takes minimum time to finish all the marbles and only one should remain on the board in the end)
6.???Chess
7.???Badminton
8.???Pakda pakdi (running and catching)
9.???Sakli (chain Chain-the running and forming a chain from those who are caught)
10.??????????????????Carrom
11.??????????????????Foot ball
12.??????????????????Gully cricket (Yes, I am a girl and I too have played the gully cricket and badminton)
13.??????????????????Beech ka bandar (monkey in the center- No marks for guessing correct- all the bhaiyas and didi’s would conspire to make me the bandar every time. They would shamelessly cheat and I seriously miss that)
14.??????????????????Climbing the wall (there was these 3 feet wall in between 2 buildings, and we would walk and balance on it.
15.??????????????????Different card games like: satti atthi (7 and 8), Joker, etc. after loosing for over 4 to 6 years to all the bullying didi’s and bhaiyas I finally became a pro at these games in the 6th or 7th grade.
16.??????????????????Art and craft, origami, paper games, book marks, Helping other children in their school projects, colouring, painting ( we never went for any classes as all the grown up children in our society would teach the younger ones)
17.??????????????????Visiting neighbour aunty and chatting with her for hours while she is working and I or other kids are sitting on the kitchen platform.
18.??????????????????Listening to Bhagwad Gita’s shlokas and understanding their meaning from an old couple staying nearby.
19.??????????????????Cycling and racing in our society
20.??????????????????Playing with marbles or pebbles in the mud
21.??????????????????Catching a gogal guy (it’s a red insect with a velvet skin). We would catch it in a match box, keep it for a day and then would release it.
22.??????????????????Chasing butterflies in the society garden
23.??????????????????Watching neighbourhood plumbing issues- somebody’s water pipe was getting repairs and all 10-15 kids from our society will go and watch all the repairing getting done.
24.??????????????????Playing dark room, Elders would happily make me cry. I was the youngest in the group and was the kaccha nimbu, yet I was included in all the games-no one kept me away just because I was younger to them.
25.??????????????????I can go one with these. I might be able to jot down 365 activities that we would do and would love to do them.
Now fast forward to today’s time, I have been checking with many children and families, what do they do for recreation and below are the most common responses (I spoke to about 50 children):
1.???Online games- top in the list (my son’s all-time favourite)
2.???Mall
3.???Playzone (in the mall) (his 2nd fav.)
4.???Food court
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5.???Restaurant
6.???Movies (in the mall)
7.???Toy shops (in the malls) (His 3rd Fav.)
8.???Branded shops (in the malls)
9.???Activity centres (in the malls)
10.??????????????????Sport (foot ball or cricket or lawn tennis) (1 out of 10 children said about sport)
11.??????????????????Chess
12.??????????????????Singing/music
13.??????????????????Drawing
14.??????????????????Weekend away from home (once a month-but everyone can’t afford it- either financial issues or professional commitments)
15.??????????????????Watch TV (another fav.)
These were the most common options that the kids or adults shared with me.
This got me wondering, in which direction are we headed today!
How will the social skills develop? (In the mall- each child has his or her play zone card, they get a separate meal for themselves with toys and they shop)
They are exposed to too much of instant gratification.
Where is the touch of sand or mud? How will they develop immunity?
With the instant gratification, where is the scope of having patience? Or how will they learn to wait for their turn or wait for the right moment?
Everything is not about; I can afford it so I’ll provide my child with it.
My concern is about developing essential life skills.
I’m not against technology or against any of the about activities. My only suggestion is (even for me) that we need to incoprporate a balanced approach.
Recreation can be about bonding with the family not just going for a outstation trip where we watch TV in a resort. Or swim for 30 mins and then come out of the water with the fear of getting tanned.
Doesn’t recreation mean doing activities that are entertaining for the mind and soul and that help up clear the stress. Too much of TV or online games somehow, in my opinion and experience doesn’t really help in reliving stress.
How about visiting a relative’s place or spending a day at a family friend’s house who has a pet. How about taking our kids to a garden or taking their help in setting or organizing your cupboard or encouraging them for no flame cooking activities like making a sandwich or chapati roll or bhel.
I had tried these with my son and to my amazement, he gave some unbelievable suggestions in organizing my kitchen shelves and other storage drawers. His observation was multi-dimensional and he shared multiple perspectives.
Possibly owing to stress and responsibilities, as adults, we tend to see what is in front of us or just the obvious. But kids, if treated with respect and like individuals, can open up and surprise you.
So, to conclude, in my opinion, its high time, one needs to discard the king or queen syndrome for kids and encourage them to work and play in teams, get them close to nature, teach values of patience and most important, teach them to value everything that they have.
Say a short prayer of gratitude everyday before going to bed, thanking God for all the gifts.
These small changes will help our children to be future prepared. Lets make recreation time-family time and group time that gets us close to nature and most importantly close to each other.
Thank you for reading till the end.
Do share your thoughts in the comments.
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