Let’s bring back ‘larong Pinoy’
I concur 100 percent with the contents of the article by professor Inez Ponce de Leon, a creativity teacher at Ateneo, that children should return to the playground. However, her analysis is lopsided since she based her experience and that of her other coteachers on Ateneo students. We know that a family has to be at least middle class to be able to enroll at Ateneo. This will not hold true statistically.
According to Wikipedia, traditional Filipino outdoor games, collectively known as “larong Pinoy,” are cultural street games that use simple materials like a slipper, chalk, and tin cans.
Do you still remember or have you played the following in your youth? 1) patintero, 2) tumbang preso, 3) luksong tinik, 4) agawan base, 5) Chinese garter, and 6) piko. If you want more information about these, ask your parents, grandparents, or just Google them.
De Leon mentioned in her article that in some schools, the children are told to stay off the playground and instead play on their iPads. From her article, it seems that going back to playing outdoor games will build character in the young ones, especially if they are exposed early. I am not an educator, a sociologist, or a psychologist, but I think going back to larong Pinoy, in addition to character building, will have these advantages: 1) health benefits, like exercise, instead of being a couch potato, looking all the time at their cell phones or iPads, 2) socializing with those who are not even your peers and accepting everybody regardless of economic status, 3) developing friendships with your kalaro, and 4) time off for at least a few hours from social media.
De Leon’s last sentences are worth quoting. “We who had been given the time and space to play have never stopped playing. We hope today’s kids receive the same precious gift.”
Ida M. Tiongco,
