Let’s Play

The scene

 I was standing in my kitchen looking out at the rain (yes, I know, I couldn’t find a suitable rain image). Observation became amusement when I noticed a little girl, in full wet-weather gear, jumping through the puddles in the street. Wonderfully, her Mum then joined in and the two of them laughed and shouted and played.

 Childhood play

 Play is one of those vitals in life that gets forgotten.

What sort of child were you?

What do you remember about your childhood play?

Did you draw, tell stories, play hopscotch, tag or playfighting?

Did you dress up, construct things, collect things or spend much of your time with a pet animal?

We help people construct play histories, build a picture and then notice the dominant themes – individual/group; physical/mental; courageous/shy and reserved; “out there” (a doer)/internalised (thinker); spontaneous; controlled etc

 It’s important

 So why is any of this important?

Childhood play usually goes hand-in-hand with developing friends. Once children start playing together, we see the signs of who will be gregarious and who will be happier with their own company, or just one or two others.

Kevin Carroll (the acknowledged play expert who wrote “The Red Rubber Ball at Work”) says “play – board games, sports, pretending, arts and crafts, exploring, building – required us to invent, analyse, innovate, socialise, plan and problem-solve”.

That sounds familiar – like work skills – so where did the fun go?

But before we get there let’s go back to university/early adulthood years.

What was play then?

It was sports, hobbies, DIY/making things, books, theatre, films, art, music, storytelling, writing, singing, jokes and comedy, eating-out, meeting-up, collecting things, using our imagination, flirting, day-dreaming, travelling for pleasure – in fact “whatever floats your boat”.

 Now we’re talking

 Dr Stuart Brown, who wrote the book “Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens Imagination and Invigorates the Soul” sees the characteristics of play as:

·         It doesn’t have some other purpose

·         It’s voluntary – there is no obligation to do it

·         It’s fun and makes you feel good

·         When fully engaged in it, we can lose our sense of time

·         When we are playing, we stop worrying about whether we look good or stupid or about what others think of us

·         We are open to chance, doing it differently and fresh insights

·         We like it; we get pleasure; we want to keep doing it

The trouble is that for many of us play changed. There were exams and creating a living; and house, marriage, children, bills to pay, responsibilities – and most of that works hard against being playful. Pressure, expectation and necessity are not the happy companions of free play.

 Mix play with work

 So how does all that go with work?

On the one hand, the seeds of many careers are seen in childhood play and what developed from that. Like James McLurkin, a Robotics Engineer, whose passion for building things led to “multi-million dollar toys”.

But on the other hand, many work cultures personify seriousness and pressure, with all concepts of play squeezed out. And is that necessary or even desirable?

Within the realms of play lie the seeds of innovation, development, better employee care and work relationships – surely all important for successful, profitable business. They can sit easily alongside the more serious elements that are required to achieve,

Strangely, I remember meeting a man who for two years had the job of Business Clown with a major UK Company. His role was to challenge and debunk processes that didn’t work or caused problems. He dressed up, played the part and gave people confidence to foster changes.

 And on to a great time

 One of the great benefits of retirement/future life is freedom; the release from work rules and requirements.

The concept of play, and indeed fun in general, takes on a new dimension – you can do many of those things that were classed as “unacceptable” before. (I don’t need to help you here – I’m sure you’ve got your own list!). It’s important for making new friends – a big thing, it would appear, as the statistics suggest that men (in particular) have few friends and would like more.

Women seem to fare much better – but I don’t find that in any way surprising, because of the way they interact and make long-term friends.

And if you feel like it, you can put your wellies on and go jumping in those puddles too. But don’t be surprised if that little girl and her Mum look at you strangely – not that you’ll care if you’re having fun.

 Photo: Noah Silliman on Unsplash.