Play as a Democratic Act

Does the word democracy belong together with play?

Play as a democratic act is obvious to me… but I realise that this is not the case for everyone. So I thought I would write this post to explain how I see it.

The word democracy, like play (and love) I think is often misunderstood by many people as well as interpreted in different ways. In part because over the centuries democracy as a value, and as a governing approach, has changed in connection with civil rights actions, an evolving technology and more…

In the Original Learning Approach I have defined play as choice and joy -

choice being free from musts to be able to follow own desires, curiosities, interests and needs that manifest in play. In other words a sense of autonomy and agency. Joy being the trinity of love, well-being and equity where we experience a positive attitude to life (rather than depression). Happiness and pleasure are also connected to joy - both happiness and pleasure are connected to extrinsic triggers, while joy is intrinsic. Since play is the brain adapting to a complex world, these extrinsic triggers are a vital component of play -

• pleasure is where we want to keep on seeking more,

• happiness finding more contentment with the experience and

• joy is a a deeper rooted sense of not being dependant on extrinsic events to experience positivity.

My way of understanding play is that play is easier to experience for prolonged periods in a state of joy than it is in a state of depression - our ability to notice things that trigger happiness is more open - ie the small everyday wonders of the world are more visible.

Having spent considerable time around children before they start school my observations have been that these children’s natural state is joy - until it is sucked out of them through the lack of play, the lack of autonomy, the lack of agency, and the increase of musts that do not feel meaningful or relevant to their lives (trauma is another way that joy is obliterated in very young children, and all humans).

Democracy can also be defined as choice and joy, but this time more complex - a lack of choice leads us to authoritarianism and dictatorships. And amongst children at play - this will look like adults controlling the play-ecosystem that limits children’s ability to fully play and achieve flow, and also amongst the children, bullying, where one or more children control other children’s ability to freely play on a systematic scale (children will accidentally, or periodically limit the play of others, or be unkind in words and actions as a part of their play and evolving understanding of the world).

With very young children I rarely see bullying, and when I have it has been the result of the child being bullied in their home by their parents/guardians and applying this behaviour when they were with other children - probably as a way to make sense of their world, or to feel a sense of agency, or some other reason. But regardless of the reason the undemocratic actions make sustained play impossible - it was constantly small pockets of play being squeezed in between the control (and this happens when adults are dictating the play as well - children will find flow whenever they sense they are not being watched by controlling adults).

Democratic joy is a collective experience - it connects to the word “mwe” that I have shared in my books, writings and presentations (me and we together). In play this means a growing understanding that our own play, choices and pleasure-seeking should not result in preventing others being able to play, preventing others being able to make choices and making the lives of others less joy-filled.

In a democratic play setting there is equal opportunity for every child to participate in play, experience joy/happiness/pleasure, to contribute ideas, make choices and influence the direction of the play or game they are engaged in.

In social play (because not all play is social) there is collaborative decision making, but in a shared space with individual play, there is also collaborative decision making, in how that space is being used so that one person’s or group’s play does not systematically deprive others of the possibility to freely play or enter a state of flow.

In a democratic play setting/space there is respect for ideas - that all ideas and suggestions are valued and that all children learn to listen to all other children and respect the many different perspectives of others. This is a part of our anti-bias work. Respect is not for a limited few people or certain ways of playing and thinking - we need to extend our thinking of what respect is and also consider that authoritarian behaviours maybe should disrespected in order to achieve a more equitable and democratic (for everyone) space for play.

There is a shared ownership of the play, when engaged in social play. That all the children feel invested in sustaining the flow.

I think it is also important to distinguish between living democratically, in other words democratic values and practices that encompass individual actions and community interactions - from democratic government which is a specific system of governance where power resides with the people, typically through elected representatives (of course this can be abused and the representatives fail to represent the people and instead choose power and profit - but this then is a breakdown of democracy rather than being an example of what democracy is). There are also other forms of democratic governance other than representative democracy - such as direct democracy and constitutional democracy.

Living democratically is what I focus on - in all three roles of Original Learning - teacher, facilitator and playworker.

This means taking into consideration our values and attitudes - do they foster a play and learning ecosystem that embraces equity, freedom of expression and respect for diverse opinions, ways of playing and ways of learning? Do we as educators and facilitators teach the skills that children need to actively participate, to be able to listen to others, to communicate their own opinions and to engage in community? So that in their play there is less need for us as playworkers to intervene. Are we teaching and facilitating rights, responsibility and accountability, so that every child is aware of their own rights and the rights of others, and can gain a better understanding of how to negotiate with others to create equitable spaces for play (and learning) individually and in groups. As well as fostering a sense of responsibility for land and “stuff” so that one group or individual is not consuming everything at the expense of others or the well-being of our planet. This brings us to sharing and gratitude - which is often forced upon children in authoritarian ways rather than learned as a genuine response and feeling through the understanding of own personal needs and the needs of others.

Democratic values, I think, naturally occur in children’s play flow when children are surrounded by others with democratic values. We also have to acknowledge that a part of play is mistake making - so they will be doing “undemocratic” things as a way to understand kindness, limits, responsibility, power, equity and more. These are extremely complex concepts and it is important that we as adults remain democratic in our nurturing of children’s democratic skills and do not slip into authoritarianism to demand democratic skills (which is how the school system is built - less and less play, more and more control, but always with the expectation that they can be educated as democratic citizens without experiencing and practicing democratic values - they learn about them theoretically, but do not learn how to practically live these values.)

I do not think that play can truly exist as an authoritarian value, or oligarchic value that seek profit and power, or a totalitarianism value - because then play will always be for some and not everyone. And while the world hasn’t got democracy to function properly yet for everyone, history (and today) is filled with civil rights movements pushing for the inclusion of all people to be able to equitably participate and influence and access their human rights. And I think play plays a role if making that happen.

Democratic play environments are, for me, about ensuring every single person feels welcome to be there. They feel that they belong. They feel valued. They do not need to hide parts of their identity to feel safe and brave. They can participate (and participation will not look the same for every individual and/or group). They can influence. They can make choices and decisions. They can feel joy (or healing towards joy) instead of fear or depression or anxiety or… and and and

Democratic play environments are not about children voting and majority wins - although it does not exclude this as a tool of decision making within a system of respecting opinions, knowledge, experience, interests, needs etc. If you are only using voting and majority decides as your democratic process then it is likely authoritarianism can thrive comfortably within this system.

A democratic play environment is a space where intergenerational values ensure play flow for every human there.

For more information on my thinking about about play, learning and democracy see my post I wrote earlier this year The Democracy of Play that looks at what skills our teaching/facilitating roles need to be nurturing for democratic values to thrive in play.