Help Others Play!!
It is a new week and this week our focus is on Helping Others Play!!
One of my favourite sayings by George Bernard Shaw is that “we don’t stop playing because we grow old we grow old because we stop playing”. In preparing for today’s blog post I had no idea what to say with regards to this topic, so I did what we all do when we have questions…ask the very smart Google.
However, what I found was less than satisfactory. I typed “how to help others play” and it gave me pages upon pages on “how to teach your children to play nice with others”, “what to do when your child does not want to play” and “help children learn through play”. The reason this was so distressing to me was because it gave me the impression that only children are allowed to play. As if when you are 18 and you can drive, vote and get married you are seen as this adult that must be preoccupied with being an adult. It is expected of you to work and have these responsibilities; you must now relinquish your play abilities to your children.
No wonder we are all tired, burnt out and feel so old. Play is part of life it is what makes life fun. With play I don’t mean that you now have to regress to being a child, but think about it when last did you ride a bike (just for fun)?, when last did you go to the zoo or a park?, when last did you put your phone down and did something, anything FUN??
This week I would like you to focus on opening other’s eyes to the possibility of play. Invite your friends to a board game night dare someone at work to do something silly. Yesterday I convinced ‘he who shall not be named’ to go jump in a rain puddle….and he did it was so much fun I could not stop laughing.
