{"id":31018,"date":"2010-09-05T23:09:58","date_gmt":"2010-09-05T23:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/caseyfamilyv2.wpengine.com\/just-push-play\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T20:22:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:22:29","slug":"just-push-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casey.org\/es\/just-push-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Solo hay que darle al play: el juego no solo es importante para el desarrollo infantil, sino tambi\u00e9n para el desarrollo familiar y comunitario."},"content":{"rendered":"
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In September 2010, Casey Family Programs President and CEO Dr. William C. Bell gave the keynote speech at a benefit luncheon for the Children’s Museum of Tacoma.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Transcript<\/h2>\n \n \n \n

Good afternoon, and thank you, Ms. Andrews.<\/p>\n

I want to thank Ms. Andrews, her staff and the board of the Children\u2019s Museum of Tacoma for the wonderful work you are doing to nurture, stimulate and challenge our children in innovative ways.<\/p>\n

As I look across this room, I am reminded of the truth spoken by the axiom: never underestimate the power of one committed person. It only takes one to start a movement and change the world.<\/p>\n

I never would infer that the forward movement we\u2019ve made through history for the betterment of all rests on the shoulders of one individual. It takes many to create change. But it all starts with one dreamer \u2013 one committed individual armed with compassion and boldness of thought and action.<\/p>\n

It is a pleasure and an honor to be among so many who believe in the power and benefits of investing in child development and education. So, I also want to acknowledge all of you gathered here. It is your continued commitment, your continued support and your continued belief in the important work that the museum is doing that makes it possible for them to provide a set of tools and programs that help prepare today\u2019s children to live out their dreams of tomorrow.<\/p>\n

The Children\u2019s Museum of Tacoma, and the role they are playing in nurturing children\u2019s natural desire to learn, explore and experiment, and instilling in them a love for learning, holds special meaning to me.<\/p>\n

I have been in the child welfare arena for nearly 30 years, and I have come to understand the pivotal role education, learning and healthy development play in a child\u2019s life. As president and CEO of the nation\u2019s largest operating foundation, whose sole purpose is to provide, improve and ultimately prevent the need for foster care, the education of children as a means to fulfill that purpose is why the work of the Museum and this afternoon\u2019s event have such special meaning to me.<\/p>\n

I am a father of two little girls under the age of five, who, like all parents, wants nothing but the best for his daughters, that also is why the work of the Museum and this afternoon\u2019s event have special meaning to me. I feel we have much in common \u2013 Casey Family Programs and the Children\u2019s Museum of Tacoma. Real change requires boldness.<\/p>\n

Real change requires boldness and compassion for those most in need. You have taken a bold and compassionate step to grow the Museum countywide. You have taken a bold and compassionate step to make Play 2 Learn services available to every family. More than 65,000 of the 193,000 families in Pierce County have low to moderate incomes.<\/p>\n

That same kind of boldness and compassion is also at the heart of Casey Family Programs. You see, this program and what the Museum is doing hold special meaning for me also because Casey Family Programs, like you, is taking bold and compassionate steps for those most in need.<\/p>\n

More than 423,000 children are in foster care in the United States; more than 10,000 of them living in Washington state; and nearly 2,000 who reside in the Department of Social and Health Services\u2019 Region 5, which includes Tacoma.<\/p>\n

In 2006, Casey Family Programs set a bold vision that we call our 2020 Strategy for America\u2019s Children. It essentially says that, working hand-in-hand with others, we will reduce this nation\u2019s foster care population by 50% by the year 2020 and reinvest the dollars saved from having fewer children in care into upfront prevention and support programs and services that strengthen vulnerable families and communities.<\/p>\n

We are here today because play is not only important in child development, but play is also important to family and community development. One of Casey\u2019s employees recently described her experience with grasping the concept of play in learning. She recounted what she says was one of her greatest eye-opening moments as a parent. She talked about her daughter, who is now a 22-year-old Stanford graduate, who, as a toddler, once again had pulled all the Tupperware out of the kitchen cupboard and scattered it about on the kitchen floor.<\/p>\n

The mother, of course, had reached a point of frustration and was at her wit\u2019s end. But just as she was about to pick up the child and carry her elsewhere in the house to occupy her time so she could clean up the mess, the grandmother \u2013 the mother of the employee \u2013 stopped her and told her to just relax, sit down and watch. She said during the next 20 to 30 minutes, she watched her baby daughter demonstrate increasing mastery of her fine motor skills; she began to figure out how smaller things fit into bigger things, which ones fit where; and how big things made a great base or foundation for stacking and building taller things.<\/p>\n

She got it. She realized that although her baby girl was playing, she was really learning; and she added, \u201cSo was I.\u201d As I was preparing what I was going to say to you today on the theme, \u201cWe Play,\u201d I came across an unattributed quote: \u201cPlay is the beginning of knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Child development researchers and experts from around the world have had many eye-opening moments similar to the parent of that toddler whose fascination and play with Tupperware led her on a path of discovery and learning and a degree from Stanford.<\/p>\n

Just like that Tupperware base used for stacking and building taller, more complicated structures, play is the base upon which children build bigger and more complicated concepts. Research shows that 75% of our brain\u2019s development occurs after we are born. The brain continues to develop and mature through adolescence.<\/p>\n

However, the activities that children are engaged in during their earliest years, say from birth through six years of age, when they are like sponges, soaking up everything around them, and are highly impressionable by their environment \u2013 the activities children are engaged in during those years stimulate and influence how their nerve cells are being connected to each other, which in turn lays the foundation for learning and developing more complex skills and concepts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Play helps build a child, family and community.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

— Dr. William C. Bell, President and CEO<\/cite><\/figcaption>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n
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Stuart Brown of the Institute of Play suggests that the one thing most Nobel Laureates, entrepreneurs, artists, well-adjusted children and happy couples and families have in common is that they play enthusiastically throughout their lives. Which leads me to ask the question, \u201cTanya, why don\u2019t we let our children play more? As a matter of fact, why don\u2019t we all play more? Why don\u2019t we find a way back to how we used to be?\u201d<\/p>\n

Play helps build a child, family and community. If vulnerable families and children have an opportunity to play, they will have a better place in which to reside. Play is not just games, but it\u2019s an opportunity.<\/p>\n

In this ever-competitive environment, to get our children in the best programs and the best schools, accepted in the best colleges, preferably on scholarship, and positioned to compete for the best paying jobs, some have lost sight of the value of play.<\/p>\n

Even in some schools, officials are sacrificing recess time. A 1989 study by the National Association of Elementary School Principals found that 96% of the school systems surveyed offered at least one recess period. Ten years later, only 70% provided recess, including kindergarten classes.<\/p>\n

The power of play to change lives and communities is evident in four ways:<\/p>\n