"PLAY IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF RESEARCH" - Albert Einstein

Written by W.N Vincent

Over the years, and despite the diverse challenges, the Nigerian culture has managed to survive via some sort of telepathic connection, if I must say. We may talk about ourselves within the country, but the moment an ‘outsider’ talks about us, everyone will ‘attack’ that outsider. Whether we have got our backs bumper-to-bumper in such cases or we just like savage replies, I do not know, but it seems to be working for us.
You may have lived in Kaduna, Enugu, Ibadan, or Bayelsa, but growing up, there were some things we all did the same despite the geographical, ethnic, cultural and language barriers.
Let’s roll back the years, shall we? We all played games like, ‘War start’, ‘Canter ball’, ‘Boju-Boju’, ‘Rope-skipping’, ‘Police and Thief’, ‘Tinko-Tinko’, ‘Ten-Ten’, ‘Ayo’, ‘Suwe’, ‘Who will you marry?’, ‘Street/Compound soccer’, just to mention but a few, for both the male and the female child. Even if your parents moved from Warri to Akwa Ibom, you could easily integrate into the neighborhood as a child, and play with your peers.
Back then, the boys will wear only shorts and run out to play soccer in the streets, not minding who just finished eating Fried rice, or who ‘drank Garri’, and if you were not fluent in ‘pidgin English’ you were teased, but the play continued all the same. On the other hand, the girls would gather around and cook vegetables with used tomato tins, trying to replicate the cooking prowess of their mothers, or they will just play ‘Suwe’ and rope-skipping.
We learnt to share love, respect, and developed some communication skills, alongside a ‘tough skin’ to harsh criticism, though unconscious to us then. But now? Even at the child level, if you’re not putting on the same shoes as I, you can’t stand on the ground I stand. These are the thoughts that slowly take root in the minds of children till they grow into adults and begin to dish out full blown discrimination over irrelevant issues.

A lot is changing with the advent of social media and technology. At 14years of age, a child already has an iPhone and 2000 Instagram followers, but no good communication skills. That child can be very vocal on social media, but when you meet them in person, you meet a timid child who only lives and breathes social media. You cannot even correct most children because, even a good word of correction, no matter how mild, is not taken in good fate. They must react to it.
While children want to grow up and become adults so quickly, Adults want to do some ‘children thing’ all over again. Adults reminisce about their childhood, and recount the many lessons they learnt from Peer association. But how much can a Child of today tell you when they sit in front of the TV 24/7 watching Reality Shows above their age grade, or Chat away their childhood on social media? Are these platforms bad? NO. Not in themselves at least.  But they should not take away that childhood experience.

Play is the highest form of research

‘Play’, I believe, does not distort the learning process of a child. Rather, it enhances that process! It breeds a constructive mind and freedom of expression which, even some adults of today lack, via interaction.
This is a call to all parents! Dear Parent, avail your child the opportunity to relate with other children their age, in a controlled system by the way. Sometimes turn off the TV and say to them, ‘go and play with your friends’.
Today, there are adults who find it very difficult to relate with people, or even start up a conversation with strangers. This is their testimony, ‘That’s how I was brought up. My father didn’t let us go out’. The sad truth is that, they lived all their childhood in solitary confinement, and when they become parents, they will unconsciously raise their children the same way with the popular command in a Nigerian home, “C’mon go and sit down inside!”
I believe that, as there are Seven (7) classes of food that make a balanced diet, so are there several nutrients that build a healthy child.

Listen to the words of some developmental scientists;
“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.”
O. Fred Donaldson

“The playing adult steps sideways into another reality; the playing child advances” forward to new stages of mastery.”
Erik H. Erikson.

And lastly, from a renowned scientist;
“Play is the highest form of learning.”           - Albert Einstein.