<< Childish games and social integration

 Have you ever seen children play? Do you wonder why we all do it, and why do we like it so much? Could it be that there’s much more to games than what we’re seeing superficially?

A not so known fact is that the games we take part in as children, mirror the culture surrounding us. Seemingly unimportant interactions are fundamentally connected to our mimicking capacity and are an integral part for our development.

Games introduce us to the culture and values of our groups and help us integrate them to our personalities before we even realize it.

The tacit rules and behaviors or unspoken rules. How to properly get along with others, the right reactions, normal societal expectations among others are practiced through these interactions in socializing processes that endlessly repeat themselves and are replicated unknowingly across countries and regions through the communities that integrate them. 

Interaction with playmates helps us establish alliances and insert ourselves on the “rules” that determine our adult interactions. Cooperation, kindness, mutual respect to name a few are all things we pick up while playing. 

In the same measure social acceptance/rejection reinforces or adjusts behavioral patterns so that the new individuals can function as proper members of its respective social groups.

All of this means that our environments have shaped us since we were children, preparing us for our integration in higher social circles and conditioning all our interactions down to our possibilities of finding a partner or adjusting to coworkers. 

Therefore, next time you see a kid playing, make sure to pay attention: You might be staring at very serious business and learning a little bit more about your own self.

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