Chapter 2.Play, Playfulness, and the Sequence of Play Forms in Development

The developmental arc of Jimmy’s play shows the typical evolution of play forms during the first decade of life. His early pleasure in gazing at work trucks is one version of toddler boys’ interest in things big, powerful, and capable. At home, he enjoyed his toy cars and trucks, but as a toddler he did little pretending. He was fortunate to have a firehouse nearby to nurture his interest and to help people the world of big trucks with real heroes. As he moved into the era of pretend play, his affectionate older sister provided scaffolding for his steps forward into symbolic play, both by offering her old dollhouse and then by heightening its glow with her own stories from earlier in her life; her compliments and support added to Jimmy’s pride in his play. Her suggestion of the perfect gift for his fourth birthday was a brilliant exercise of her own mentalization skills. Oedipal themes dominated his stories, with an array of male figures representing facets of his complex feelings toward his father: admiration, identification, rivalry, devaluation. Jimmy identified with the brave Firefighter Sam who participated in the rescue of the mother and children, while the father of the endangered family only made foolish mistakes. The idealizing side of his ambivalence was also expressed in his hero worship of the real firefighters next door. As Jimmy moved into latency, his interest became more reality oriented and associated with actual achievements, as he helped out with the engine at the fire station and learned about fire safety. This trend took an entrepreneurial turn when he developed an assembly program that allowed him to shine at his school. Much as it might complete his story to say he grew up to become a firefighter, he did not; he actually followed his basic scientist father’s footsteps and majored in environmental science in college. He did, however, join the volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technician (EMT) service as a student at his university in a small midwestern town; to his surprise, as he neared graduation he began to think about a career in medicine.