“Ms. Lindsey, catch me! Catch me!” Naila* excitedly mumbled—the three-year-old never quite grasped the concept of volume control, consistently keeping her voice at the smallest decibel no matter her level of enthusiasm. I made a show of running around the play structure, pumping my arms slowly and kicking my knees up to my stomach. I crouched at the bottom of the slide, and scooped the three year old into my arms as she reached the bottom.
I spent the majority of last summer chasing “Naila” around the playground, working as a camp counselor at a ritzy elementary school in my hometown. It was because of this background that I applied to intern at the Playtime Project: I love children, and wanted to use this passion to work at an organization whose mission coincided with mine (and after interning here for three months, I doubt there’s a group out there who cares more for children than Playtime).
I went to the DC General playground with the intention of interviewing its site manager at the time, Ron. Instead, I ended up spending my afternoon coordinating adventures to the ice cream truck, playing the most intense hide-and-seek game I’ve ever participated in, and learning the proper technique to operate a bubble blower.
After the hide and seek game disbanded, “Jackie” grabbed my hand in her tiny fingers and dragged me across the playground.
“Do you want to watch me go down the slide?” she squealed, letting go of my hand to climb up the playground, leaving me waiting at the slide. Once she reached the top, she looked over to ensure I was waiting at the bottom, and pushed off, sliding right into my arms.
It was deja-vu; it felt like I was back at summer camp. Despite the different children’s different experiences and backgrounds, the children wanted the same thing as the preschoolers from my school: to be kids. It did not matter that they were currently living in a shelter; they wanted to play and enjoy the afternoon and chase their friends around the slide.
It was this (productive, just not in the way I intended) afternoon that really cemented for me why the Playtime Project is so important. So often, children experiencing homelessness have the “HOMELESS” label slapped on their foreheads in red ink. They become just another statistic and lose the innocence and need that is normally associated with children.
The Playtime Project actively prevents children experiencing homelessness from being reduced to a statistic. It cares for children, and gives them the opportunity to do what kids need most: play. It gives them a network of support built by people who want the best for them. Playtime Project provides a safe area to explore with other children and practice collaboration. It gives them a chance to simply be kids.
Children are children, no matter their housing situation, and they deserve to be treated as such.
Playtime Project helps give children this chance.
*The names of all children involved have been changed for privacy purposes.
This blog post was originally posted on the Playtime Project website. Playtime Project is a non-profit in DC that works to create equal opportunity and play for homeless children. See the post here.