Play! When is the last time that you, as an adult, have played? That is, when have you last let loose in an activity with no specific goal in mind, lived in the moment, engaged imagination and creativity and maybe even laughed a little?
Lately I’ve happened to read some stories from the 1800’s and what jumped out for me was that adults were playing games that we now think of as only for early elementary and pre-school aged children. In the stories, the adults were having great fun engaging in pick-up sticks, jacks, blind man’s bluff, guessing games, eye spy, tag, hoop rolling, puzzles and more.
Granted people worked long hard days with much more physical labour than we know, and their entertainment time was much, much less than we know today. Yet when the time was right, even the adults engaged in the spontaneity of play….and they didn’t need some children around so that they’d feel okay about playing. Think of the scene in Dicken’s AChristmas Carol where a group of young adults are playing Blind Man’s Bluff.
What happened? When did we lose the spontaneity of play in our adult lives? And not only have adults lost this engagement with play, I see the shift moving downward. Teens don’t play, and even kids in upper elementary are playing less. We still see true play in pre-schoolers but even that is being lost in favour of structured activities and early childhood education, neither of which provide the necessary development that true play provides. Then when kids hit school, it is as if they receive some signal that says, Now you have to get serious about learning. Now you have to get organized. And they start losing the ability to freely and spontaneously explore their world with creativity and imagination.
In working with children for more than 30 years, I have to say that I’ve noticed that young people today are less able to come up with creative ideas, much less able to imagine what goals they would like to pursue. It seems as if they are always waiting for someone to tell them what to do and how to accomplish it. They seem less able to play with ideas and situations than the young people I worked with 30 years ago. It is curious to me.
It may be that television, computers and video games are contributing factors. But I think that it is more than technology that has created this situation. I remember, when I was in High School in the 1970’s, how we were often told that we would need to learn how to use all the free time we were going to have in the future because of the many “time-saving” devices that were coming on to the market in those days, such as microwave ovens. But I’m still waiting for all that free time. Instead of feeling freed by the technology, some days I feel as if I am more of a slave to the technology. Check my e-mail at work, check my e-mail at home, check my voice-mail, next the text messages demanding immediate attention ….then deal with all the items that have come my way because of those….and I don’t even do Facebook or Twitter.
Are we afraid of free time? Are we afraid that we are not valuable or significant if we are not focused and working hard? What is it that is driving us to work longer hours and to be constantly connected via technology? What is it that is driving our children to become more and more serious about life at younger and younger ages? What is it that we fear will happen if we give ourselves time to play, to laugh, to let go of responsibility and agenda?
Try starting a game of tag or eye spy at work. I’ll bet that your co-workers will be looking around to see if there are some preschoolers in the area. When they discover that there are no preschoolers as the reason for your actions, then they will start to question your sanity. Yet, it used to be totally acceptable and expected for adults to play for the sake of play.
I invite you to think about play in your life – playing with your children and finding playful moments of your own in which spontaneity, creativity, imagination, and laughter are allowed to have free reign. See what it does for your stress levels and for your sense of well-being.
God doesn’t demand that we work our fingers to the bone. We don’t have to prove ourselves to God or anyone else by working harder and longer. On the 7th day, even God rested…and I think God played as well, delighting in the wonders of creation, delighting in the people, animals & plants created by God’s hand. And if God can rest and play, then it is good for all of us.
So find time for rest, for play, for fun, for laughter. It is good for your soul!!
And now, I feel a game of hide-n-seek coming on…..
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