Smallsteps and I went outside to play in the park for a while, taking a ball with us. There is a basketball ring there that is at about 8 foot, though it is sitting on sand, so a ball doesn't bounce. I don't get the point of it, but Smallsteps and I can still have fun - especially since we weren't playing with a basketball at all. We used one of those cheap plastic kids balls with no inside bladder, so it was fine.
However, what was funny is that it is pretty clear that we have been watching a lot of sports lately, because Smallsteps took us into a huddle to make plans on how we were to beat the other team, and then she roleplayed both the coach, and a player (she was the short one), dishing out orders to us all with a serious look on her face, and urgency in her voice.
It was very cute.
And then, after the game (which got us into the finals), we sat on the swings and she interviewed me, asking how I thought the game went. what kind of practice I did to prepare and what is the plan for the upcoming finals game. And after I had adequately answered, including the follow up questions, I had to interview her - and I have to say, she did a pretty good job, modest and not over confident, praising the skills of the other teams, saying that if we make a few extra chances, we might get through with a win.
Again, it was taking seriously, and performed very cutely.
It was a lot of fun to get out there and do this and it reminded me of when I was a kid around the same age, except I was mostly playing by myself, pretending there were only a few seconds left on the clock, taking the hail Mary shot on an impossible angle...
However, what it also highlighted to me is how quickly we absorb from the screens we watch, because Smallsteps hasn't watched that much before. Not just sport, but that much of anything. While we have played lots of imaginary games before, today it was far more structured and reminiscent of what we have been watching in the last week - minus all the sporting prowess.
She can act as a sportsperson though.
Our environment impacts us on so many levels, and we repeat and replicate, and start to adhere to and represent what we consume. If we surround ourselves with low-quality, non-growth content, that is what we are going to end up acting out in the real world, because that is our benchmark for how we are playing the game.
We act what we eat.
I believe that the way we play as kids makes a fundamental impact on how we grow into adulthood, and the lessons we learn or don't learn, will affect our future opportunities and outcomes. So much of what makes us who we are as adults is learned in childhood, or the foundations are created when young that we build upon, and they can take a lifetime to overcome.
We are just starting to see the outcomes of what growing up on screens does to adults and for the most part, it isn't good. Perhaps if their parents had said "go out and play" more, there would be less issues to overcome for the kids of the future. But then, their parents are on their phones too these days, aren't they?
Taraz
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