"Play" v. "hard work"
"play" and "hard work" are not opposites: in fact, they can be seen as synonyms. Anyone who has ever played hard also knows how to work hard. There may be aspects of our play that we dislike, that are not "fun," but we do them because they are steps in the process we are teaching ourselves, the challenge we are undertaking. And young children tend to play hard, throwing themselves wholly into it, immersing themselves into it as they see fit, to the degree they feel comfortable, up to the point of their interest, until their driving questions are answered.And this is where Hobbesians tend to interject: Ah, but what about the hard work of doing things they don't want to do? How do you teach them that through play?The short answer is: you don't.There is only one kind of "hard work" we must do in life that we don't want to do: the hard work an external force imposes on us.
Tom Hobson via http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/work-ethic.html
I love this entire post!
