All the world's a stage...

Children need play. As I teach students preparing to be educators of young children, I point out the importance of imaginative play for children's learning and development. Imaginative play provides an opportunity for children to try on "many different hats," if you will. Imaginative play provides a safe environment for children to explore different social roles or "practice" resolving conflicts. Imaginative play helps children to make sense of the sometimes confusing world that surrounds them. If you ever want to get a good indication of how you are doing as a parent, observe your young child "playing" family or dollhouse and see what they do as the "dad" or "mom."

I recently had a bit of an "a-ha" moment. During a rehearsal for Beauty and the Beast, the director talked about the excitement of theatrical performance. As a person "becomes" a character in a dramatic role, he or she can "escape" into an alternate world in which the individual can explore and experience alternate lives in a "safe" way (although when you introduce the idea of performing in front of an audience, the experience feels far from "safe"). Through experiencing other possibilities, we can better understand ourselves and our own identity by walking in another's shoes (or, perhaps more accurately, becoming another person walking in our own shoes). In essence, dramatic performance can serve a similar function to imaginative play engaged in by young children (Hmm. Maybe that's why they call them "plays"?). Of course one does not need to "tread the floorboards" to have a "safe" escape experience and "explore" other experiences in a safe way. A good book or movie can allow us to vicariously experience alternate identities and situations that can serve to help us understand ourselves better by viewing the world through the eyes of others, but there is definitely something special about making those "other eyes" our own eyes by becoming--if only for a while--another person (or in my case in Beauty and the Beast, a rug). Another person with a different background, strengths, and shortcomings. Ironically, there is something about getting away from ourselves through the tools of imagination and pretend that can help us to see ourselves more completely and accurately when we return to our real lives. By escaping ourselves, we come to know ourselves (at least a little bit better, hopefully).

So, play on.