Preface - Why I Rewrote "Children's Play is Their Food" After 10 Years
Prologue _ Play Creates the Roots of Children

1.
Play is a child's life

What you want to do, what you want to do
A place called 'Play'
Is it really attention that is lacking?
How to close the 'play gap'
Finally arriving at the 'self-harm play'
How Shopping Became Child's Play
Why children come into the world
Is the screen a window or a wall?
Wither or grow or flower fall
In search of the game's antidote
Lack of planning saves the child
Few toys meet the world
As life increases
Children who have to play to sleep
I'm hungry and tired
Why does play come before sports?
Generous and simple
Playground 1 - Ten Thoughts for Friends Worried About Excessive Screen Time

2.
What does a child live on?

Don't encourage challenge, failure, or creativity! They're all burdens!
Why we have to spend a period of time analog
The flower of play, 'imaginative play,' is fading away.
Get lost while rolling
I hope it doesn't interfere with my child's play time.
How did air play survive?
The tombstone is my avatar
Minimize adult-led play activities!!!
Experience the height and speed: My love Maljja
From story to song to play
What is progress in play?
Quasi-free play is spreading like wildfire.
About grooming and parenting
Playground 2 - Ten Thoughts on Social Media Use

3.
Empty the playground so the child can fill it with play.

Children can survive only if the playground is changed.
It's noisy, messy, dirty, and hurtful.
Public children's indoor playground
If a child cannot live with a child's mind
Is it a slide or a climb?
If you use wood, will it become an ecological playground?
Barrier-free playgrounds are discrimination
Proposing a movement to create a 'dirt playground'
Elastic packaging and combination play equipment
We need a playground where we can move, break, and destroy.
PLAY BOX
Beware of playground sponsors
A playground in crisis, from exile to hospitality, from large to minimal
Even without a playground
Playground 3 _ When you realize your kids are dying to play

4.
Play is within the child

Encourage rough and tumble play
Play and become absorbed in the game
Even if it's hot outside, even if it's cold outside
The path of most fierce resistance to capital
A bowl of 'play food'
Now let's return to the home of 'free play'.
A child must be good at playing.
Play is a blessing in children's hearts.
When a child stops playing, his or her breathing stops.
Let's take the children's side. Let's take the children's side.
There is no such thing as 'real play' or 'fake play'.
Children learn most easily when they play.
A child who plays well for one day doesn't get annoyed, but a child who plays well for ten years is cheerful.
After reading Kwon Jeong-saeng's "Mother's Cat"
Playground 4 _ 'Play Food' Promise

Epilogue _ In an era of play deprivation, give children more free play and imaginative play!
Playground 5 _ Children come into the world to play.

『Children's Play is Food』 Completely Revised Edition!

“I remember when I first wrote this book.
As a play activist, I have painfully witnessed the rapidly decreasing opportunities, time, and places for children to play in Korean society, and I can no longer turn back.
I would like to express my gratitude to my friend who read my rough and uncomfortable writing.
… How are South Korean children surviving in 2020?
… In the newly written 『Children's Play Is Meal』, I have included the results of a series of sleepless reflections and a brief moment of encouragement from readers, both direct and indirect, over the past ten years.” (From the preface, “Why I Rewrote 『Children's Play Is Meal』 After Ten Years”)


Children come into the world to play.

How should we view our children, who struggle with the ever-increasing youth suicide rate and the worsening school violence and bullying? Is there no way to help them navigate the physical, mental, spiritual, relationship, and friendship challenges they face on their own? How can our children, for whom life itself is suffering, find happiness? Could the disappearance of "play" from their lives at some point lie at the root of their suffering?

The comforter asks:
How do you manage to survive in this unbearable world?
And I dare say.
We live today with the strength we gained from playing when we were young.
Isn't it that we live today by gradually drawing out the memories of meaningless actions and freedom we had with our friends as children, and the strength of body and mind we developed there?
But how are our children, who cannot play and have no energy, supposed to survive in a world of increasingly harsh disasters and bad weather?

“Picking up gravestones is not a game. In fact, the real game is going around the neighborhood looking for gravestones.
The tombstone that became connected like this is me.
It wasn't the tombstone that fell, it was me.
“It’s not that the scab flips over, it’s that I flip over, so I hit the scab until my shoulder falls off.” (From ‘The Tombstone is My Avatar’)

A child who has played well all day does not know irritation,
A child who has played well for 10 years is cheerful.

Large buildings and roads have obliterated alleys and yards, and because of adults' obsession with building competitiveness and specifications, it is difficult to see children playing in alleys.
Where are all the children who disappeared from the alleyways? How much "play food" have these days' children, who commute between school, academy, PC cafes, and home, glued to their gaming consoles, computers, and smartphones, consumed?
A child who plays well for one day does not get annoyed, and a child who plays well for ten years has a healthy mind.
Just as you need to eat a variety of foods to grow up healthy, you also need to eat 'play food' regularly to grow up healthy.

“Play gives children an experience of the reality of death and resurrection.
“The dizzying feeling of stepping on gold and dying, and the joy of coming back to life a moment later—these two comings and goings are the most ecstatic world that play gives us.” (From “The Most Fierce Path to Resistance Against Capital”)

Children's play is their food! Let's embrace this proposition.
And let's confess to the kids.
When we were children, we used to just play and eat our fill of 'play food'.
Let's all play together today and share a bowl of 'play food' so that all children in Korea can grow up to be happy children who can run and play to their heart's content, children full of vitality!