5) Read and discuss the following text. The Importance of Children's Games

In child development there is an important phenomenon that shows very clearly the process of preparation for the future: play. Games must not be considered as the haphazard creations of parents or educators. They should be seen as educational aids and as stimuli for the child's psyche, imagination and life skills. Every game is a preparation for the future. The manner in which children approach a game, their choice of game and the importance they place upon it, show their attitude and relationship to their environment and how they relate to their fellow human beings. Whether they are hostile or whether they are friendly, and particularly whether they show leadership qualities, are evident in their play. In observing children at play we can see their whole attitude towards life; play is of the utmost importance to every child.

But play is more than preparation 'for life'. Games are above all communal exercises that enable children to develop their social feeling. Children who avoid games and play are always open to the suspicion that they have not adjusted satisfactorily to life. These children gladly withdraw from all games, or when they are sent to the playground with other children usually spoil the pleasure of others. Pride, lack of self-esteem and the consequent fear of 'getting it wrong' are the three main reasons for this behaviour. In general, by watching children at play, we can determine with great certainly the extent and quality of their social feeling.

The goal of superiority, also revealed in play, betrays itself in the child's tendency to be the leader and organizer. We can discover this tendency by watching how children push themselves forward and to what degree they prefer those games that give them an opportunity to satisfy their desire to play the leading role. There are very few games that do not incorporate at least one of these factors: preparation for life, social feeling, or the striving for dominance.

There is, however, one other factor that is present in play: the opportunity for children to express themselves. Children are more or less left to their own devices in play, and their performance is stimulated by their interaction with other children. There are a number of games that especially emphasize this creative bent. In the preparation for their future profession, those games providing the opportunity for children to exercise their creative spirit are especially important. In the life stories of many people, it is not uncommon that some who made dresses for dolls in childhood went on to make dresses for adults in later life.

Play is indivisibly bound up with the psyche. It is, so to speak, a kind of profession and must be considered as such. Therefore it is not a trivial matter to disturb children in their play. Play should never be considered merely as a way of passing the time. With regard to the goal of preparing for the future, all children have in them something of the adult they will become. Thus in the appraisal of individuals we can reach more accurate conclusions when we have knowledge of their childhood.