playtime!

appearances are everything in thailand. as long as things look good, they must be good. (right?!?) take my school for example... the rainbow shine of brightly-colored fun-shaped play equipment screams “safe!” “entertaining!” and “child-friendly” to prospective pattaya parents. to prospective working holidayers delaying grad school for the lure of travel, it screams “quality work environment!” and “child-development-supportive atmosphere!” the lure of this undeniably child-centered atmosphere is intoxicating.



every day the play equipment is laboriously wiped sparkly clean by the same janitor (when i feel stressed out by the 3 year olds running in circles to their own tune of ear splitting screaming, i can’t help but feel guilty of being ungratefully self-piteous when i happen to walk by the janitor, a thai girl around my age, scrubbing the indoor play area floors for the 10th time that day and making sure the red and blue slides are 100% free of dust…). and the outdoor trampoline and intricate slide/swing structure is only five steps away from the complete indoor play area of two extra large play structures complemented with every type of bike, bouncy, and rocking self-locomotion device imaginable. but the school invested another hefty sum for a glass-walled building at the front entrance with a foamy climbing play area, art and craft setup, and library. the full-glass front of the building, being the key design element, of course. parents can see every detail inside to allow the wistful mental image of their happy smocked child sitting and painting with the utmost expression of 4-year-old joy. or the picture of their 2 year old energetically climbing the gushy rainbow play structures, to help assuage the anxiety of leaving them at school for the first time.


one notion seems to have been forgotten in their grand design scheme of theirs. kids are just kids. give them a pile of dirt and some rocks to climb and they won’t hesitate delving straight into their next fire breathing dragon or beautiful barbie princess adventure. they don’t need aesthetically pleasing shapes to their playtime accessories. they don’t need to be clean. or even new. and they certainly don’t need to be sponsored by the happy image of bumble bee® currently proudly announcing its sponsorship at the very front of the new kiddie fishbowl.


but bright colors are nice, and cleanliness is appropriate for the school. the kids are happy, the parents are happy, and the teachers are happy. the only problem is how scared i am to actually use these facilities. i already got the most death stares from all the thai teachers in the kindergarten building when i finally got the ok to test out the unheard of concept of “playtime,” letting my little monkeys go crazy for twenty minutes during the time scheduled for sitting their 3-year-old butts down in stiff-backed chairs for me to teach them “science.” whatever that’s supposed to mean to 3-year-olds. i’m already pretty unconcerned about any uncomprehending gaze sent my way in response to whatever strange teaching technique i might be employing, such as “playtime.” i’m just worried my class of monkey children, who are after all haven’t even reached the ripe and well-disciplined thai age of 4 yet, might misplace a giant primary-colored lego, not stack the foam pads straight enough, or heaven forbid, disorganize the rainbow sheets of paper in the art room. i’m worried our scheduled “playtime” in the giant fishbowl room will result in a show for parents of little rambunctious kiddies running and doing crash jumps into the lego structures, hitting eachother over the head with the foam blocks, and making airplanes and crumpled balls out of the nice rainbow sheets of paper instead of sitting quietly at the table using the paper to create pretty pictures of rainbows and houses. in other words, i’m worried the fishbowl might expose the reality that *gasp* these ARE just little kids! they don’t play in nice organized peaceful disciplined ways, they just go crazy and play because that’s what kids do.