problematic play

Before today's class/discussion, I never really thought about how play can be problematic. In a way, play is a great opportunity for a lot of slippage to happen. When engaging in play, whether as an innocent child or a fully-concsious adult, you may say or do things that are offensive or hurtful to others without even realizing it. A child may choose to not play or onteract with another child because of the way they look or are, and if said child notices that they are being discriminated against, their feelings will be hurt and it can cause life-altering consequences to take place. Just now as I was typing that sentence I thought about how children can be so mean wihtout even realizing that they are being that way. When I was growing up, I was always self-consious about my darker skin complection and often felt like it made me ugly. My long, curly, unruly hair didn't help much, and I insisted that my mother bought me a hairstraightner when I was in the fourth grade - not even ten years old! Throughout my k-12 educational years, I was always part of the "cool" or "popular" kids, so even though I felt less pretty than all of the other girls, I didn't show it. When in elementary school, I saw kids (especially boys) be allienated during rescess because they weren't as good-looking as others, or not "boyish" enough. As adults, play can be problematic when one does not know when and where to filter one's thoughts, words, and actions. Everything can be taken out of context so easily.