Play It Safe--But Play!

I'm a grown up who is regularly accused of still acting like a child. While perhaps intended to jab, this has never really offended me. In fact, quite the opposite--I wear the moniker with pride. But that may just be me, behaving like a child. Hmmm...this does get confusing.

But now I, and all of my middle-aged-child-like friends have something to really boast about. The cover story in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine section is entitled "Taking Play Seriously". This article is filled with excellent information, both from a behavioral and academic perspective, as well as an emotional point of view. That's where I weigh in.

Play is an important part of my life, and always has been. I am lucky to have parents who encouraged it, grew up at a time in this country when it was widely accepted as the "right" thing to do, and I never lost my love of it. I admit that the 1960s might have been an easier time to make play "happen". There was no Internet--actually there were no DVDs, VCRs, or anything else to take my attention away from my three-dimensional world and replace it with a mere two dimensions. Uh-oh. I am seriously sounding like a person older than I feel. After all, I do remember dial phones fondly.

But here's the deal: I love all kinds of play--sports, parlor games, board games, card games and games and puzzles online as well. I love playing scrabble at the kitchen table but I also love playing it on Facebook, because it means I can play twenty games at once with friends all over the country.

Kids need play time. In this over-scheduled-over-indulgent-overly-scrutinized world, play- for play's sake gets the short end of the stick.

I think it's time to put play back into our lives--no matter your age or your geographic location. Play safely, of course, but play!

Bowling anyone?!

(c) Steven Brandt. Image from BigStockPhoto.com