Skateboarding in the Middle East - Research Paper Example

Teacher Skateboarding in the Middle East:  How is it benefiting the children? Wanner defined skateboarding as a way “through which kids have reclaimed the urban landscape, bringing creativity and style back to the sterile asphalt spaces of sprawl” (Wanner). It goes beyond the plank with wheels of which can ride but a way where children and play and express their style through their stunts. In short, it is a creative play that evolved into a sport. And being a creative play, skateboarding is beneficial to children and even adult as it contributes positively to their development and well-being in the urban centers and elsewhere in the world.

Skateboarding does not have to be confined in urban spaces as Wanner believes. Skateboarding represents creative play that it is universally appreciated by children and adults alike all over the world. It area of play is not only “Where there is an asphalt space of sprawl” but also in the asphalts and deserts of Middle East. In fact, skateboarding may be more beneficial and may be more appreciated in the Middle East than in the urban centers of California because many children are scathe by war in those regions whose growth and development is interrupted by war.

Skateboarding, being creative and playful as it is, has a big place among those children in the war torn countries in the Middle East to at least provide them with the coping mechanism with the terror of war they are exposed of. The extent, fierceness and length of war in the Middle East that had exposed countless of children that leaves one to wonder not only on the depth of the scathe that war had left on the children but also on the interruption of their development. Play according to Smilansky and Shefatya, play is essential to children’s social competence and maturity (cited in Jalongo, 2014).

Play could also be a very good antidote to extremism because it undermines the very foundation of extremism which is intolerance. Play according to Smilansky and Shefatya let children experience other’s “points of view by working through conflicts about space, materials, or rules positively” (cited Jalongo, 2014). Through seeing and experiencing other people’s perspectives, children learns to become tolerant and more resistant to extremist ideologies thereby could reduce if not totally remove extremism in the region.

Finally, skateboarding or any other play should be experienced by children. Let children be children to have fun and have a sense of wonder in discovering the world. Play by itself with an atmosphere of laughing children creates a positive society where everyone feels good about each other. Having said that skateboarding as a form of play and creativity is an effective form of therapy among war scathe children that could make them resistant to intolerance, skateboarding may be more important in the Middle East than in the urban place of America or elsewhere in the world.

The sport, hobby or however may one classify skateboarding should be promoted in the Middle East due to its many benefits to children.Works Cited"Skateboard Design: Skateboard Makers (video) | Exploratorium." Exploratorium: the museum of science, art and human perception. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.