We have all heard the statement that a child’s work is play. Children play at everything from running from you, making magic mounds with their food,  pretending to be sleeping at nap time…….silently or overtly giggling every time they ‘spoof’ you. Somewhere along the way,  we adults loose the inclination to play. We are so busy working and achieving that the word play becomes obsolete in our vocabularies.

As a grandmother, I have rediscovered the JOY of playing. Hide and go seek seems to have reinvented itself and the favorite hiding place is behind the curtain. Playing in the water, splashing each other reminds me of when I used to do that as a kid. Catching lightening bugs and putting them in a jar was an after supper fun thing to do back in the day. A few years ago, I became aware that the grandkids were now starting to get into board or word games….Cupcake, Junior Monopoly, and  Zingo are some of their top choices. ( I have a small supply of duplicate games at my house).  They always have to teach me the ‘rules’ because I am an adult: how could I possibly know them? And do they make you PLAY by the rules!

Often as adults, we need to remind ourselves that it is certainly okay, even GOOD to remember to play. We might need to give ourselves ‘permission to play’.  George Bernard Shaw is credited with: ” We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing”. Think about that: play makes you laugh, feel light hearted, and like a kid again. It should bring you JOY!

Try adding a play date each week with a friend, sibling, significant other, spouse or anyone who will say ‘yes, let’s do it!’.  How did it feel?

P.S. Playing games on the technology devices does not count!