It's Important for Children to Play Issue 22 Home Page   Home Page

I Was a So-Called Tomboy! Aya Takehisa from Japan Photo: Chihiro Takehisa When I was a child, I used to play outdoors with my friends till the sun went down, I was a so-called tomboy.   When I was a child, I used to play outdoors with my friends till the sun went down, I was a so-called tomboy. On the other hand, my older sister always played inside. Speaking of my sister, she and I were very different. I enjoyed playing outdoors, whereas she enjoyed playing indoors. For example, my parents bought us dolls, which were similar to Barbie dolls, my sister always took care of her doll, but I cut my doll's hair and made it ugly. After that I didn't care about playing with it, but my sister was happy to get some clothes for her doll from my parents. She usually played with her girl friends. They enjoyed playing with indoors with dolls, knitting and coloring. My friends and I liked to play jump rope, dodge ball, and badminton. We didn't compete each other; we just enjoyed playing together. We also played with stilts, made things with clay. In those days, roller skating was popular. I wanted to have roller skate, but my mother wouldn't buy me any skates, because I had experienced a mild concussion while playing leapfrog. I really enjoyed my childhood, and if I were a child now, I couldn't play with such toys, because there are few fields for playing in my town. In addition - this is a big matter - we will be involved in the examination war, and compete with others with unwillingness to take good jobs.  More on the importance of children playing: Let's Play Outdoors! | The Toys I Played With | My Favorite Toy Was a Doll How Do—and Did—Children Play? | Traditional vs. High Tech Toys Return to: It's Important for Children to Play | Issue 22 | Home Page TOPICS Online Magazine - ©1997-2007 - topics.mag@gmail.com - Sandy and Thomas Peters