Zufelt Family Feb 2015

Zufelt Family Feb 2015

Saturday, July 12, 2008

The Definition of Play Has Changed


I don't even know how to describe this new sort of play. It is so detailed, so meticulous, so planned and purposeful. The trains must follow certain tracks at certain times. If anything breaks, we have to call the maintenance crew to fix it, not just put the track back. Ben will line up the trains on top of the coffee table all facing me on the couch. Then I have to babysit, including telling them stories and giving a report to the grown-up trains when they get home from their meetings.

The trains even have errands to run. Ben will wait until the clock hands point at a predetermined number before it is time to leave for the errand run. I used to suggest he could just take care of the errand early, but he said the people waiting to ride the train know how to wait patiently, so they will be just fine and we can all wait for 11 o'clock or whenever. He is often found wandering around with a tape measure to be sure things are just the right size. Of course, the numbers don't mean much to him yet, he just makes up a number most of the time.

Same thing applies to all types of play, swimming, building with blocks, sesame street, cars, marble works, etc, etc.

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