Why do we stop playing?

A few years ago, whilst waiting outside a school before a meeting there, I was watching the children in the playground, running around, skipping, shouting, laughing – you know, proper belly laughing. It prompted me to post on Facebook then that maybe work places should have a 10 minute break time mid morning and mid afternoon so that staff could run around, laugh, play footy etc to escape being a grown up just for a few minutes. Let’s face it, we all get tired of adulting sometimes.

I was reminded of this the other week when watching a film called Tag, where a group of mates had been playing a game of tag for 30 years – for one month a year they would chase each other all over the country – and it was based on a true story. The wonderful quote used in the film was:

We don’t stop playing because we grow old – we grow old because we stop playing

How true is that? So the day after watching the film I spent the morning climbing trees! There is something so satisfying about it, and our orange trees are perfect for climbing!

I think as we grow up we forget the simple pleasures in life – life gets hectic and we convince ourselves we don’t have time for fun, and that being silly just for the heck of it is something reserved for kids.

Let’s face it, the world is going to hell in a handcart, so maybe now is the perfect time to look at having fun again – not sensible grown up fun, proper childish stuff – running around, skipping, finger painting, jumping in a pile of leaves, climbing a tree, going tiddler fishing – let your imagination run riot! Don’t watch the news, play tiddlywinks or cuddle a chicken instead!