CHILD'S PLAY

Children are extremely important in our lives. They are our future. Throughout many recent generations this has been recognized. During the 1930's Rexford G. Tugwell worked to form plans for the “Green towns”. Initially there were twenty five towns discussed, but only three of these were actually built. One of which was Greenbelt, Maryland; otherwise known as a “sub-urban town which was intended to provide work relief and affordable housing for government workers and low-income urban families who had been left destitute by the depression” (model city packet). This town was created to be very family oriented in that a significant element of a family is the children. Greenbelt is said to have been focused on having a safe place for kids to grow up in a “planned community where no child would have to cross a busy street to get to a school or playground”(Betsy Wood Walters, model city packet). Unlike the city streets, Greenbelt gave the children a place to play. In the middle of the town there is a statue that displays this concern for children. It is a parent sitting with a child in their arms. It seems that the parent is comforting the child. The display of this statue in the middle of the town conveys the importance of the ideal of good nurturing parenting. In my analysis of how children make use of their space, I will contrast and compare the children of the 1930's, from Greenbelt to my own childhood during the 1980s. In addition, I will analyze the various toys used by the children of the two different generations.

Children can be very creative when it comes to use of space. When children are enclosed in a small space, they will use their imagination to find a “space of their own” within that space. The Greenbelt homes were not large, but there was at least one child’s bedroom. Within this room there was a closet. Many children would play inside the closet. When I was a child, I also remember playing in small spaces. In one instance, I remember my friend and I used to play under my trundle bed because it has a lot of room underneath when the second bed is pulled out. It used to be our clubhouse, and we would play board games under there. Another example of a play space was under this yellow table that was in the corner of my room. We used to put a blanket over the top and connect it to chairs. Then we would play house in our “tent”. Although, my room was much larger than a child’s room in Greenbelt, I still managed to find small spaces to play in. Another difference besides room size, was the fact that my sister and I didn’t share a room, while a lot of children in Greenbelt had shared rooms that were a third of the size of our rooms. However, even though we did not have to sleep in the same room, we loved having sleepovers, just so we could sleep in the same room.

One positive aspect of Greenbelt was the fact that outside there were so many places for children to play. Some of these places were fields for baseball, playgrounds, water to wade or swim in, and a swimming pool. There were many sidewalks, that all connected, so that children could ride their bikes safely. Moreover, there were no major roads running through the town, so children could cross the streets safely, without having to worry about cars speeding by. The entire community was concerned that the children play happily and worry-free. A lot of the housewives would sit outside watching their children play. However, due to the safety of the town, many mothers would just watch their children from the window of the kitchen, while they finished up the daily chores and prepared meals. When it would snow, cops would turn their lights on in order to light up areas where children would sled, so that they could continue sledding after dark (George Panagoulis, model city packet).

The town that I grew up in is East Brunswick, located in central New Jersey. My town is composed of many smaller neighborhoods, or developments, as they are called. The developments are separated by the kinds of houses that are built, or developed there. Usually, each development is composed of a few different house styles that are all relatively the same size, has side streets, and is revolved around an elementary school. Although my development does contain an elementary school, not all the developments do, because there are only seven elementary schools, and the vast amount of neighborhoods vastly out numbers the schools.

Similar to Greenbelt, the streets of my neighborhood were also very child oriented. We could play in the streets without worrying, or having our parents watch us. However, sometimes there would be an occasional parent sitting outside and watching. Most of the time the parents relied on the older children to keep an eye on the younger ones. Honestly, I don’t actually think that they needed “us older children” to do this, they just liked saying it. Atleast, that is my point of view as an older child, but my parents probably knew that I thought that already. There were sidewalks running along in front of everyone’s’ house. We would ride our bikes on the sidewalk, when we were little, but as we got older we were allowed to ride in the street. When you were allowed that privilege, it was a big accomplishment, it meant you could ride with the big kids. Some of the neighborhood boys would play hockey, baseball, and football in the street. Some of the girls would use chalk to draw on the sidewalk or the driveways. Chalk could create many things; from a hopscotch board to a bicycle roadway (all equipped with signs and stoplights) to an original masterpiece. Sometimes, we would use the chalk to create four boxes (out of a single large square)in which we would play boxball in. Usually the boys would join in for this game. In addition, on my driveway, and many others on my block, were basketball hoops, so that we could play basketball. Playing outside was a wonderful opportunity for the children of the 1930's, and the 1980's, as long as they lived in the suburbs, because there was unlimited space to play in.

In the Greenbelt museum, I noticed that the toy displayed were very stereotypical toys for either boys or girls. For boys, there were items that were either centered on science or sports. The science objects were a microscope, a globe, a compass, an erector kit, and a model airplane that would hang from the ceiling. The sports items were a red wagon, a baseball glove and bat, and a pair of ice-skates. Although, ice-skates can be seen as a possession of a girl child. There was also a train set; something almost every little boy desires. These items are exactly the same items that would have been seen in a boy’s room during the 1980’s. These traditional toys will always be typical of little boys’ possessions.

All the girl’s stereotypical items were for playing house. These included a baby doll, a carriage, a dress for the doll, and an original Shirley Temple doll. Shirley Temple, was a real actress, who was very popular in those days. Similarly, when I was a kid, there were dolls made after many famous television and movie stars. For example, there were the New Kids on the Block dolls. While I did not own any of those dolls, I did own many of the dolls that were popular at the time. I did have Cabbage Patch Kids, Strawberry Shortcake dolls, and My Little Ponies. It seems that the types of toys girls play with have changed, but they really haven’t. The same pattern of buying the most popular toys of the time period is apparent in both the 1930’s and the 1980’s. In addition, I had many board games in my possession, meanwhile it seems that the children of Greenbelt had only a few. In the Greenbelt museum, where I observed the children’s room, I only saw the Popeye ring toss game laying on the bed. Furthermore, I only saw a couple of books on the bed, and a few books on the desk. On the other hand, in my room my shelves were filled with so many books that some had to be piled on my desk. In general, it can be perceived that I had more toys than the children of Greenbelt. It is quite possible that money was a factor in this situation. The 1930’s was the time of the Great Depression, and many people did not have much money for anything, let alone for toys.

Something that cannot be overlooked, is the way in which the space of the rooms was used. In the Greenbelt bedroom the furniture was crowded into the room; the desk, the chair, the dresser, and the bed. This is due to the small size of the room, which is in proportion to the rest of the house. The reason these low income houses are so small is because they were built cost efficently, so that the most families possible who needed homes would have them provided.Consequently, the setup left little floor space for the children to play. This could be a crucial factor in influencing them to play in the closet, or outside a lot. Conversely, my room was quite spread out compared to this room. First of all, my room is a lot bigger, however it is also comparitive to the larger size of my house. In my room, I had the same pieces of furniture, only mine were much larger in size. Plus, I also had an armoir, a toy chest, a rocking chair, and a small yellow table with four matching chairs. I had more furniture, yet I still had much more room to play. Moreover, my closet also has three times the amount of space inside. This also gave me more room to play. With all these more toys and the greater amount of space I had to play in, compared to the children of Greenbelt, I now wonder whatever made the expressions “Mom, I’m bored. There’s nothing for me to do!” and “There is no room for me to play!” come out of my mouth.The big difference, it seems is the size of the rooms, or the whole house for that matter, which all depends on the time frame in which it was built. The Greenbelt house is typical of the 1930's (when it was built) following the depression, and my house was typical of the 1970's (when it was built), in which there were no major economical problems.

The same basic concepts of safety, and the importance of personal space for a child to play in are expressed in both generations. It seems that, although a tremendous amount of things have changed from the 1930s to the 1980s, the simple aspects behind child rearing, and the things that children actually do haven’t changed at all. It is comforting to know, that good wholesome family life has not been lost with the upsweep of our society.

Sources
My own memory
The video that we saw in class
Model city packet