RETHINK CHILDHOOD!

CONCEPTUALIZE CHILDREN’S PLAY IN THEIR FREE TIME THROUGH WORDS

Abstract

It is possible to imagine places where there are conditions to rethink childhood. Give it functions of concern, subversion, involvement and idleness. Places where the present belongs to them. Appeals to ‘fantasy’, to the written, spoken, fluid and ongoing word, for impossible adventures; an invitation to play to practice activities that are not just hobbies; to support moments of dialogue and hiding; to play on the cliffs down to the sea where danger lurks in the heat of the sun. Play is the best occupation for children. But it not the most practiced, as conservative speeches remind us: narratives about childhood have rules, they are not meant to trouble thoughts, but rather to appease (domesticate) them. Sometimes adults carry all my wishes in their pockets, says Zézé in the book ‘O Meu Pé de Laranja Lima. We need a new idea of childhood through words. In this text, we invoke the concept of playing and free time in the transformation of time and remember that each child in another narrative will always be another child.