First published: August 23, 2009
“playfulness is … not only to be enjoyed but to be accorded high value for its fundamental role in the success of all organisms, including humans.” — from Variability in Brain Function and Behavior (1994) by Paul Grobstein
In these times, many parents often stress education to their children, and leave little importance in the child’s physical recreation activities. Because of this, the children often would just revolve their extra time to computer games or watching cartoons on television.
When they go back to school, they would have very little to relate about with their peers except computer games and cartoons. This can create an awkward situation, when a male student tries to relate with a female student and find that they both have nothing to say.
Much worse, is that when parents and children try to converse, they find no common ground to talk about, unless the child has watch a rerun of an old cartoon, such as the old animated series Voltes V, which they can talk about with the parents.
Then as the children reach adulthood, they begin to find that they lack certain social skills and physical conditioning that will help them survive the dog-eat-dog world of adult life.
This extreme or worst case scenario isn’t so far removed from what is happening in urban centers all across the globe.
There are many reasons to this sudden breakdown of communication and social values. Many attribute it to parents being too busy to interact with their children; others blame the proliferation of valueless media blitzes (including Social Media) and technologically reliant individualistic centered games; while some may even point the finger at the mad rush to urban centers that create over congestion and thus the lack of proper social integration hubs such as parks.
All these points are somewhat true, in a sense they are all contribute to the issue. However, I would like to add that the extreme concentration on studies creates and a lack of physical play activities is also part of the problem.
In the natural world, childhood is merely the training phase towards adult life. Here the young are taught the very skills they would need for the survival in the adult world. Yet in that training, play is an important part of that development, where various skills and values are honed all in the spirit of fun. That is why kittens and puppies romp around in mock fights, in preparation for the future when they will have to hunt or defend the pack.
To many adults, they often look back at their past with sentimental musings or condemning angst, as they see how childhood events shaped their present lives with the exception of the importance of play. And in the games played as critical to our self-development, noted minister and author Robert Fulghum encapsulated the idea with his book “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”.
In the traditional Filipino setting Laro (play) is just as important as Kaalaman (education) and Gawain (chores) in the growth of the child. Children’s games are supposed to train the person on rules of engagement, fair play (honor), team work and strategy, as well as developing the child’s physical skills and health.
And as the children interact with each other, social bonds are created that will affect their relationships with whole community in their adult years.
Although you can find makeshift basketball courts on the city streets, where the male youth try to emulate their hardcourt idols on the television, there is no interaction with the girls. The social aspect of Laro allows all genders to interact, and further develop skills of communicating the opposite sex.
Another problem with sports is that there are children who will specialize in the game, while others don’t. This will already create a large separation of those who can and those who cannot; whereas in social games, there is no special skill for any of the participants thus making it an even playing field for all children.
Although there are so many traditional games practiced by the various cultural groups in the Philippines, I have listed just a few popular games as well as several regional games:
Tumbang Preso (Jail Break) is a game where the children try to topple an inverted can (the jail . preso) by hitting it with their slippers while the ‘it’ guards the can. This game develop’s the childrens critical thinking for strategies, physical agility, hand and eye coordination, and teamwork.
The Yoyo is ancient toy and weapon that develops the child’s dexterity.
Taguan, or Hide-and-Seek, hones the children’s physical stamina as well as their awareness of the physical environment.
Saranggola, or Kite Fighting, is a game of strategy.
Patintero is a local version of Blind Man’s Bluff, which has the children learn teamwork, and hone their physical agility.
Trumpo , or top fighting, develops the child’s hand & eye coordination.
Piko is a form of Hopscotch that trains the kids in teamwork and physical agility.
Luksong Tinik is a game where children try to hurdle an ever increasing obstacle, made other other children’s hands and feet stacked on top of one another. Agility and speed is the name of the game.
Shato is a form of sticj game, where children try to hit sticks around an ‘obstacle course’. This develops hand & eye coordination, agility, and team play.
Suongan is an ancient Mangyan ropeless tug-of-war, with the kids strength and teamwork are put to the test.
Bungkalan is a form of Bicolano finger wrestling that develps upper body strength.
Pinnuyot is an Ilocano blowing game with obvious cardio-vascular benefits.
Kulisisi is a Cebuano guessing game that hones intuition and awareness.
Another interesting concept in Filipino games is that of the Saling Pusa (a cat joining in), where a smaller child is allowed to participate in a game, while the older children watch over the young one so that he/she does not get hurt. The process of allowing a saling pusa in a game is for the smaller child to learn the rules and strategies of the play, but is still protected from the rougher aspects of the game, such as in Habulang Taya (tag). As time goes by, the smaller child grows up and is able to partake in the full melee of the game, while he/she watches over the new generation of saling pusa.
This saling pusa practice is part of the cyclic process the raising the next generation of leaders.
Based on studies in child development and education, theories such as Multiple Intelligences (Howard Gardner), Action Learning (Reg Revans) and Play Theory (Donald Lytle) stress the importance of playing in human development and its integration in education.
I would also like to add that by re-introducing traditional games into the communities, adults will learn to interact more with children, whereas it will be the parents who will be the ones to teach these games.
And as the lessons learned from youth transfer on to adulthood, the person slowly evolves into an active member of society. And as the person continues to work with society, the skills they gained will slowly develop their adult experiences and therefore their wisdom. In that wisdom, the person becomes a community elder / leader, the Lakay.
Prof. Lakan Olivares
2009-2021
Lakbay ng Lakan 