– Which boundaries can we delineate here? Can children play animals or plants? Or should they only play people?
– It’s best to play people. Why should they play animals? This just brings relics of ancient notions to the surface, like talking trees, or the sun talking to the moon, or a wolf to a fox.
Within the framework of our upbringing, these types of fairy tales, and actually anything that brings a person down to a lower level is harmful. It not only gives us an incorrect idea of the animate world, but of the world in general.
We should understand our unique position. Animals are on a different level of development. They are not people. We shouldn’t idolize or personify trees, animals, or mechanical toys, such as when a mechanical toy with a human face suddenly starts moving around and talking.
We have to treat a child like an adult. On the inside a child is an adult. He looks at us with the eyes of an adult rather than a child. Sometimes mature, serious memories of childhood awaken in us. These reminiscences remain in us for the rest of our lives and still determine our attitude to life today.
Unfortunately, the talking trees, sun, or choo choo trains we saw in childhood will always remain in our subconscious. This is exactly why we cannot look at life seriously. It holds us back in some way. We continue to act out a kind of fairy tale within us and do not live for real.
– Can a 10 year old play a grandfather?
– Yes. To be able to have the right contact with people, he has to act out men and women of all ages.
– The first thing I noticed when I started working with a group of teenagers was their desire to be on stage as fast as possible, to be applauded, and to earn something as fast as possible. Should this aspiration be suppressed, meaning, should we try to make them focus on the practical work?
– A person cannot develop without positive emotions such as rewards, presents, and honors. We are egoists. If a child worked hard and performed beautifully, the collective must appreciate it and reward him with applause, to show him its approval.
But we have to help a child choose the right aspiration, one that will enable him to receive that reward. Maybe their work should be videotaped and then analyzed—whose role turned out best and why? For example, you can videotape ten boys when each of them is playing his neighbor, and the neighbor is playing the next person.