There are few places where games are as important as recess. Recess is a designated time and a designated place (magic circle) where children are supposed to do nothing other than play games. I remember sitting in a classroom in my grade school watching the clock go by and counting the seconds until recess. There were few things that would get me as excited and energized. Children are supposed to do nothing other than have fun and play games for an hour and I miss having recess. There is something very special about having a designated time to play around.
We would go through different phases at recess from playing football for a few weeks to basketball to four-square. The phases were also seasonal as we would shift from basketball and four-square in the fall to tackle football and snowball fights in the winter. For whatever reason, we took so much pride in our snow fort making abilities.
We were probably just as competitive then as we are now and possibly cared more about winning than we do now. I remember playing many games where the winners would go crazy, but the losers would be absolutely depressed and often brought to tears. I remember playing dodgeball at recess with my friends and I threw a ball at a friend of mine. He was so mad that he was out that he proceeded to walk over to me and punch me in the stomach. Why did we care so much more about winning and losing then? Or is it just that we gain better emotional control and are able to maintain a higher degree of composure when competing when we are older and more mature? How did you guys decide teams at recess and how did you agree on rules?
First, I want to say that I really liked this post and thought it was a very interesting topic. Recess was undoubtedly the best part of elementary school There was never a day my friends and I stared at the clock just like you ready to run out and play very similar sports that you played too. As for the questions mentioned at the end of the post, i thought this was a pretty interesting topic too to debate about. I kind of think the level of competition we displayed during recess was a combination of all the things you mentioned. I believe at that age we did care a lot more about winning and losing. At this age though, we clearly don't mind losing a simple pick up game. However, I also agree that it is partly because we are more immature and may not be able to control emotions as well as we can today. I also think though another factor that plays into this high level competition is looking at recess as a time to impress others. At recess, there were often times where so many kids would participate or watch. I think this could lead a lot of kids to try showing off and losing would really tick them off.
ReplyDeleteI thought this post was interesting because you said we were more competitive and thought more about winner then we do now. I think it is the total opposite, even though it may not been as shown emotionally and physically as it was when we were younger but it is still there. Not too long ago me and couple friends were actually playing for-square at the Dance Marathon event. I can tell you we were just as competitive and none of us wanted to get beat by the other. There was anger when people lost and bragging when you won, so there is that same competitive feature there. What separates us from when we were young I think is they way we show. Not many times we see adults crying and throwing punches all because of a simple game. However this could happen in more extreme cases but as a child every situation seems like the end of the world.
ReplyDeleteYou raised some really interesting questions in your blog post. I think that the reason we cared so much about winning and losing as kids was because we wanted to fit in. We didn't want to be known as "losers." Also, we idealized the concept of a winner. Kids are definitely tougher on each other, especially when it comes to making friends. People want to be friends with the "coolest" kids possible, and they associate winning with cool. Now that we're older, however, we obviously see things in a more rational light. We're not just going to kick someone out of our friend's group because they lost in a game of basketball. Similarly, we realize that there's a lot more to a person than their ability to win a game of dodgeball.
ReplyDeleteI think another thing is that when we were younger, teachers provided extrinsic rewards for winning (at least at my school they did). The winning team would get a non-uniform day or a special dessert. As a kid, no one wants to be the one left out, so they do whatever they can to win and are devastated when they don't.