Most people can quickly identify what is happening when they see a child or group of children playing. "What are they doing?" If a question is asked, they may answer that they are playing games. However, if we ask them to define what a game is, they will use different expressions and create different definitions. These definitional differences include professionals. Game; It is a phenomenon that includes behaviors, emotions and thoughts that are enjoyed by the players and that are creative, rational, flexible and open to change and innovation. The game directs players to adapt, take risks, wonder, and solve problems. It has an important and prominent place in children's lives.
Children grow by playing as much as they grow by eating and sleeping. Children have the opportunity to test their own realities, instincts and motivations during play. They gain perspective by imitating alternative ways of life events they experience in the game. For events they have never experienced yet, they acquire coping strategies through imitation and experimentation. They experience the process of cooperation and adaptation in group games. However, play does not have to serve any purpose for the child. Play is the reward itself, the motivation of which is entirely internal, spontaneous, enjoyable, without any expectation of reward.
In comparative studies conducted with children, it has been observed that children of divorced families mostly play aggressive and destructive games in the year following the divorce. Children who are affected by negative life events in the family reflect this in their games, telling us that play is actually also a way of healing. It eases the burden of traumatic or challenging life events experienced through play. They not only use the game to display situations that have happened to them and their past, but also to present their unexpressed concerns and create the opportunity to rehearse ways to find solutions to them.
Many steps of a difficult developmental process such as recognizing emotions and regulating them are learned through play as well as life events. Children have the opportunity to experience and recognize many emotions such as joy, fear, anger, love and excitement in the game. This He learns empathy, interpersonal relations and communication by taking on different roles in the game. Thanks to social games, children learn to take responsibility and obey the rules.
To summarize, play is a vital activity for the child as much as feeding, sheltering and sleeping. We worry about our child not getting enough sleep or leaving the table before he or she is full. We fear that it will negatively affect his growth. What about being left without a game…?
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