Tuesday 31 July 2012

'Please don't shoot, I'm only playing...'





There are many versions of sand-play and sand-play therapy since Dr Margaret Lowenfeld introduced her ground breaking work in the postwar years; or should I say following WW2!  Play Therapists and Dramatherapists and Jungian therapists all have collections of small  objects and trays of sand in order for people to create small worlds, and tell stories about their lives.  The objects can be small stones, shells, buttons, buckles, items from dolls houses, animals for a farm yard, wild animals and mythic animals, and lots of people from different occupations, ages and ethnicity.  Also there are usually trees, bridges and fences, birds of the air, creatures from the sea and domestic pets.  And more.

The debate I am having at the moment with friends and colleagues is the use of weapons in the play room.  Most people say, 'Oh it is harmless - children have always played with bows and arrows - or guns - or plastic swords.  Surely knights with spears or soldiers with guns don't do any harm'.  After all 'they are only playing'.  My mind shifts to the child soldiers being trained to shoot their families, the fact that many countries have been riven by war long term.  Are we living in a culture of war or a culture of peace?  Or a culture for war or a culture for peace?

By arming children in the play room, in an age when fantasy and reality are often confused, especially on television, is reinforcing the weapon culture.  I just don't buy this, 'children need to be able to express their anger so thats what the guns are for' - there are plenty of ways to express anger without weaponry.  Anyone for a jog?

2 comments:

  1. Hi, I do not often use the Twitter;I find hard to follow the posts. Now, I've seen your post on using weapons in play. I think that it depends; it depends to several conditions.For sure, if the child comes from a violent, aggressive family, I shall not use the soldiers but lot of plasticine and drawing and painting. Later on, I might introduce some 'war' tools but not necessarily in a free play; I shall take part in the game, allowing him to lead it but reacting every time he becomes too destructive (that is, my toy with react with complains, sorrow, you hurt me, I don't play with you any more, but sometimes, I shall ask-as a physical person, about this or that). Also, I shall allow him for the beginning, to use bad words; there is no point to stop him, at least in the first meetings.

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  2. 'My mind shifts to the child soldiers being trained to shoot their families, the fact that many countries have been riven by war long term.' This situation is not new. It was something usual, for example, in the former Soviet Union, but not only. The 'children domain' was always a favorite field of manipulation. A 'soft' alternative of a more general manipulation is NLP. Is this less dangerous?

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