I’ve been exposed to many different sources recently, and they all revolve around one idea. Play. These sources have taught me and opened my eyes to the world that is played and how it affects children and growing members of society. Play is seen as leisure in some people’s eyes, but in reality, it is a necessity. I’ve learned that play is so essential, it can shape the rest of your life. It is so important, that the playground designer Isamu Noguchi had something important to say about it. A quote from the podcast 99% Invisible, says, “Noguchi wanted Play Mountain to be a strange new landscape that would dare children to imagine other realities so that perhaps they could grow up into creative, open-minded adults.” The amount of ideas and philophesses that you can implement to a child in its young stages of life is astounding.

I find it crucial to allow children to play and explore with other children to have their own understanding of the world and how they fit into the picture. One of the more important lessons learned through this play is the ability to love and accept everyone and anyone kids play with. This can stop future racism and shows children that ethnicity and history don’t dictate anything about how personalities will develop. Similar to how the “They Called us Enemy” comic describes it on page 81, without an inclusive play of all races and different types of kids, there is bound to be different kinds of nationalism and dislikes of other races.

The unfamiliarity with different kids can lead to terrible things in the future and it is important we learn to give our kids this opportunity as quickly as possible. I believe that if we allow kids to play more and play in a situation in which they can learn and it will benefit them, then we should prioritize those times as heavily as possible.