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Inter-American Children's Institute |
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“I WANT TO PLAY” 1.
Introduction With
the financial support of the Government of Chile, the Inter-American
Children’s Institute produced a video on the Right to Play, entitled
“I Want to Play.” This video is part of a series intended to promote
and publicize the children’s rights enshrined by the Convention. Ing.
Julio Rosenblatt, Coordinator of the IIN’s Inter-American Child and
Family Information Program, was responsible for the original idea of the
video. “I
Want to Play” is an animated video, 1.15 minutes in duration, in Spanish
(lyrics) and English (subtitles), with music performed by Leonardo Croatto
and a children’s choir. Walter Tournier directed production of the
video. 2.
Content a.
Some
initial considerations Children
must be children. Hence, the right to play and leisure is enshrined in
article 31.1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: every child has
the right “to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational
activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely
in cultural life and the arts.” Emphasizing
child’s play as a right means that the expression of communication and
knowledge necessary for a person’s integral development is valued, and
the spaces and times for rest and leisure are redefined according to this
right.[1]
The
spaces where children interact (school, neighborhood, etc.) must be
adapted to their needs, and must include in their design the concept of
free-time activities and recreation as part of an urban plan that
integrates green spaces and spaces for play and leisure. The Convention on
the Rights of the Child encourages States Parties to respect and promote
children’s right to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and
to provide appropriate opportunities for children to participate in
cultural, artistic and recreational life and leisure in conditions of
equality.[2] b.
Child’s
play according to prominent thinkers[3] Below
are some ideas on child’s play: its scope, its origins, descriptions
from different points of view and its essential characteristics, as
written by historically prominent thinkers. J.
Huizinga: Play
is a voluntary action or activity carried out within certain fixed time
and space limits, according to a freely consented but absolutely imperious
rule, with a purpose in itself, accompanied by a feeling of tension and
jubilation, and the awareness of being in a mode that is other than that
of real life. J.
Chateau: Children
over three do not play because of an invincible tendency. They know why
they play; therefore, it is in the motivations that we should look for the
driving principle behind child’s play. D.
W. Winnicott: Play
has a time and place… It is not “inside” (…) it is not
“outside” either. (...) Playing is doing (...) We should always
remember that play is in itself a form of therapy. (...) With play, and
perhaps only with play, children and adults are free to create. Florencio
Escardó: Play
begins by being, for babies, a very powerful and vital activity that
directs the training of motor skills, posture, senses and communication
with the outside world. Little by little, it acquires powerful qualities
and centers the period of magical thinking or symbolization. Finally, it
is the school of organized activity and acceptance of rules, commitments
and sanctions.... Freud: We
could say that each child, when playing, behaves as a poet, as he creates
his own world, or rather, reorders the things in his world in a new way
which is pleasing to him. (...)
The psycho-dynamic peculiarities of play include the following: a) it is
based on the pleasure principle; b) it transforms the passive into active,
thanks to which the child dominates his traumatic experiences; c) it
satisfies the compulsion for repetition through the learning that is
achieved by play and the pleasure derived from repetition itself. Jean
Piaget: Play
is a product of assimilation which is dissociated from accommodation
before being reintegrated in the forms of permanent equilibrium, which
will make of it their complement in operational or rational thinking. Thus,
play constitutes the extreme pole of assimilation of the real into the
ego, and participates on par, as an assimilator, of this creative
imagination that will continue to be the driving force for all later
thinking and even reasoning. 3.
Target
Audience “I
Want To Play” is aimed at all the children and adolescents in the region,
seeking to generate a communication strategy that highlights the
importance of children’s right to play and leisure. We
seek to show children that this is a right they should exercise, so that
they understand the importance of having spaces in which to play. As part
of the strategy for reaching out to the Target Audience, we have used
communicational and visual language that is familiar and engaging while
also being didactic. 4.
Broadcasting We
live in an increasingly media-oriented society in which the media (chiefly
radio and television) reach everyone, even the most marginalized sectors
of the population. The rational use of those tools is a good way to
promote the rights of children and adolescents in the region. In
order to reach its target audience, it is suggested that the video “I
Want to Play” be broadcast at times when children and adolescents are
likely to be watching television. 5.
Dissemination ·
The
Video "I Want to Play" will be shown by open-access and cable
television channels in the different countries of the region. ·
The
video can be used by public and private schools in the different countries
as an education tool conceptualizing the rights of the child. · Workshops will be organized for people involved in child-related issues to discuss the topic addressed by the video. 6.
Lyrics:
"I Want to Play" I
can go up I
can produce I
can create I
can create ...
And
I want to grow up playing
When
I’m playing, I learn I
create while I play!
When
I’m playing, I feel Play!
I
love to have a good time playing
Happily!
When
I’m playing, I want I’m
playing, here I go…
I
want to play!
With
my friends Playing! Happily
playing! 7.
Information
on the Inter-American Children's Institute
The
Inter-American Children’s Institute (IIN) is a specialized organization
of the OAS founded in 1927 in Montevideo, Uruguay. At
its 75th Meeting, held in Ottawa, the IIN’s Directing Council
approved the Strategic Plan 2000-2004, which proposes to promote promotion
of tools for the dissemination of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child by means of communications strategies. To
implement this, for the last two years the IIN has been promoting the
development of short videos. of approximately one minute in duration, on
issues related to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. These videos
are being shown on open-access and cable television channels all over
Latin America. The
work of the Inter-American Children’s Institute revolves around three
important programs:
a.
Program for the Integral Promotion of the Rights of the Child The
Program for the Integral Promotion of Children’s Rights (PRODER), based
on the development of a Prototype of Targeted Public Child Policies, is
engaged in promoting actions and intervention projects to address the
problems and needs of children and adolescents in situations of
vulnerability, risk and social exclusion. PRODER
has developed its Prototype of Targeted Public Policies to address the
problems mentioned in the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
specifically Article 23 (Disability), Article 32 (Child Labor), Article 33
(Drug Abuse) and Article 34 (Sexual Exploitation). b.
Inter-American Child and Family Information Program (PIINFA) PIINFA’s
main objective is the production and promotion of information systems
aimed at persons and institutions working in the field of child and
adolescent affairs, in order to create pools of comprehensive information
that will help achieve change in the living conditions of children and
adolescents in the Americas.
PIINFA’s
activities are centered on: -
The
Inter-American Child Information Network (RIIN) -
The Information System for the Monitoring of Rights
-
The updating, professionalization and computerization of the civil
registries of the region, to ensure that, among other rights, the right to
identity is upheld and respected.
c.
Legal Program The
Legal Program (PROJUR) provides OAS Member States with services such as
training, information, monitoring, research and specialized technical
assistance to reinforce and support national child protection systems in
the hemisphere. It
also seeks to provide governing bodies on child affairs with key legal
information, facilitate research, train persons responsible for
institutional development and enforcement of rights, and provide technical
assistance in the still-unfinished task of harmonizing national
legislations with the principles of international law in the field.
8.
Production:
“I Want To Play” Credits General
Coordination
Julio Rosenblatt WALTER
TOURNIER – Director Uruguay
(1944)
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