Mom At Play!

Posted by Tiff in Momsanity, Playful Parenting | 2 comments

I was surfing around Facebook today. Contrary to the popular opinion of hating the changes so so so much, I actually love them! It’s like a party on my page now. Things are moving and grooving! I like that I can eavesdrop thanks to the friend ticker. I love the feed and how I can customize it to different lists. And I LOVE how photographs are shown so large now!

Speaking of photographs, I came across this one on my friend feed:

This is Christine who blogs over at welcome to my brain. She runs Hillshade RV Park, a place that I’m dying to visit one day soon because I have a feeling it will become my new happy place.

You might notice that Christine is standing on top of some playground equipment while hula hooping. It’s pretty much the best thing I’ve seen all week! She’s doing 30 minutes of hula hooping for 30 days straight, and she’s really gotten around. She’s documented herself hula-ing outside, inside, on the side of the road, in front of food carts, and all over the country (thanks to a great roadtrip).

But out of all her pictures, this one summed up so much of what makes life fun and adventuresome. Anytime I see someone doing something that I haven’t done in a while it makes me stop and think…”Why did I stop doing that? Why did I stop climbing up playground equipment?! When did that happen?” Probably the same time I stopped jumping into pools because they were too cold.

A brief exchange happened:

It was fun to read that this picture, which inspired me so much, was in fact inspired by the freeplaylife way of living. This is what happens in the grand scheme of things. When people complain that their kids are whiny/problematic/annoying, I tell them to play more. When people sigh that their lives are stressful/complicated/exhausting, I tell them to play more. Playing won’t directly address any of these problems head on, true. Often people don’t agree that something as simple as play is anything more than a distraction and diversion. BUT. Play introduces a wild card into the equation…it welcomes a lighthearted, whimsical, and joyful kind of freedom that rubs off on everyone around. Including yourself!

Doing something that makes you giggle for just 15 minutes a day pays off in spades long after those minutes are over. Sometimes just this little shift in our own energy is enough to make everything else not quite as annoying/stressful/exhausting, even though none of the root causes have changed. And sometimes those root causes DO change because of the shift of our energy. That’s the beauty of play. Get outside your head and let your inner self have some release!

A playground is a perfect place to start, since many of you are there with your kids anyway. Have you noticed that playgrounds are full of kids on the inside with all the parents ringed around the outside? The next time you go, get in there with your kids, then impress them with your awesome play ability! You can do things now, as a big tall strong adult, that your littler child self could only dream of!!! Climb up places your kids can’t reach yet. Swing down from things that would scare them to try. Leap from one thing to another rapidly, knowing that their coordination won’t allow them to do it yet. I guarantee you, kids respect playfulness. They may not understand paying bills, cooking meals, going on errands or all the other billion things you do for them, but they understand play. It’s their language! When you play, you are speaking their native tongue. And when you speak their language, they listen. They respect. They see a side of you they didn’t know existed, and even the crankiest kid may actually ask you to help them learn your playful moves.

In return, you remember what it’s like to be a kid again, and that magic seeps into the rest of your daily tasks!

The playing adult steps sideward into another reality; the playing child advances forward to new stages of mastery.
Erik H. Erikson
American psychoanalyst
1902–1994

I’d love to collect pictures of parents playing. Not playing with their kids (although that’s nice!) but playing themselves. Not because or with anyone else…just for play’s sake! If you don’t play or don’t have pictures of you playing, then stop what you’re doing and go do it! And take a picture! Then put it on (the new! improved!) facebook and share it on the freeplaylife wall. Or tag it freeplaylife so I can see it!

Now go forth and play!

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