【INNER】Play!

"Counseling children is not easy!" I couldn't help but exclaim, telling myself that I'm not a familiar teacher to the children, nor their loving parents. Instead, I am a 'strange big sister' who needs to follow the children's footsteps to explore their inner world and assist them in expressing long-suppressed emotions. During the role-play in the class, I recall my past, when elders directly told me not to be curious or ask too many questions and just followed whatever they taught me as that's the Bible of life. "I teach you like this for your own good! So you won't take the wrong path in the future!". I remembered the missed opportunities for exploration and cultivating my own opinions. "I wanted to "hit the wall" to see the world clearly, but why didn't the elders even let me find the wall?"

"We are born knowing how to play, and busyness is learned and imitated."

The birth of a child immediately prompts adults to push the child's growth process along the adult template, stifling their expressive abilities. They pretend not to see the child's self-healing abilities, which is quite sad, isn't it?

I reflect on areas of improvement when working with children: the speed of my speech, my vocabulary, and my voice tone. Additionally, children with different experiences require different creative/play interventions to help explore their inner worlds and emotions. This 'play' doesn't only belong to children but also includes counsellors! So, let's play!