Tuesday 12 June 2012

Playing all day

As Occupational Therapy students we learnt about the role of play in all our child development units. We learnt about how it helps build physical skills, both gross motor and fine motor, it assists children with gaining knowledge of the environment around them and it helps with social development and provides opportunities for the development of self-esteem and confidence in their own abilities. 


I would day dream about my working life and imagined myself spending hours with each child, helping them learn skills through play - being paid to play puzzles, help them foster their imaginations and do fun activities all day - my idea of heaven! 


The reality of working with children in my experience was unfortunately not that. I worked as a locum in a paediatric development team for a time in the UK, but we were so understaffed, with such ridiculously long waiting lists that we were only able to use our allocated time with each child to do short, standardised assessments and then the follow up appointment was with their parents to work through a treatment plan that they would hopefully carry out. With such stretched resources, there was very little fulfilment of my idealistic view of what paediatric occupational therapy should entail. There was very limited time to develop rapport and no opportunity to work with any child on an ongoing basis to see them develop through their hardships.


I don't have first hand experience with the system here in Australia, but from hearing Mums talk and when I have looked into working in Paeds again, it seems very similar to the UK - long waiting lists, limited resources, little chance for therapists to do 'therapy'.


It has been such a wonderful thing for me to "put the theory into practice' so to speak, since becoming a mum. I have been able to dust off my 'developmental OT' hat and explore all aspects of play as Master Z has developed through the stages. He is now 2 1/2 years and I have finally had the chance to do the things my naive 21 year old self dreamt about all those years ago in the lecture theatre. 


The stuff Master Z and I do is what any Mum would do with their kids. It is about spending time with them, paying them your full attention and becoming immersed in their world. We do a lot of repetition of numbers, shapes, colours and naming objects - but it is all very incidental and not planned. He is a sponge for words at the moment, so we have a running commentary about everything that we do. 


He loves the outdoors, so weather permitting, we are there whenever we can be and he has just started to explore role playing and imaginary play. As a mum who likes to play, we are getting to a really cool stage! I do however, have to hold myself back (I am like an exuberant golden retriever sometimes) and allow him to play independently and give him space. This is just as important as being there to roll out the playdough when he needs me to.


I have been thinking about play a lot and now that Master Zeb is a toddler, it has a big relevance in our lives. I have decided I will start a weekly post relating in someway to the broad topic of play and child development. Watch this space!


Just snuck this in for Tuesday blogging with Jess at Diary of a SAHM. Head on over to check today's posts out!

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