Play helps children know who they are
Play with your children.
Socrates states, “Know thyself.” His philosophy, “Wisdom begins with wonder.” He believed we cannot know anything without first knowing our SELF.
When we play, we learn. While children are young, play is their work. They learn so much about life while playing. They learn how to count, read, and think. They learn how to be alone and how to be on a team. They learn what is fair; what is even? They learn how to feel excited and confident; they learn how to feel disappointment and about inadequacies. They learn what they like and what they are good at. They learn what they don’t like and decipher what they want to stop doing and what they want to get better at doing.
Children who know themselves are empowered adults. One way we can help our children know their SELF is to listen to them. When they sip a cup of hot chocolate and state in surprise, “That is hot!” We can respond with direction/guidance to blow on it or say, “Wait until it cools off a bit before you take another sip.” We have acknowledged what they know to be true to their self. They know. They become confident in themselves and their own ability to discern.
Photo by Any Lane: https://www.pexels.com/photo/smiling-black-child-with-hot-coffee-with-cream-5727913/
When we reply with, “No it isn’t, it’s not that hot.” We create an environment where they learn to question what they know to be true. They become less confident in their own knowledge of their SELF.
The more children learn about themselves, the better decisions they can make as they get older. Children learn through play and eventually through work; household chores and eventually employment. Play games; take walks and talk with your children. Bring them into the chores you do and ask them to help, show them how to be helpful.
When our children are grown and on their own, they will take better care of their SELF when they know who they are and they know what they know to be true.
Play with your adult children too. We never stop learning about ourSELF.
