Don’t Act Your Age...Play!

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there is no Better time

With this attitude, humans can find time to play, if only for a few moments, in even the most stressful situations—combat zones, operating rooms, courtrooms, even during natural disasters. However, when the playful attitude is missing, things that ought to be fun—organized games and sports, vacations, hobbies—are not really play at all.

We all start life knowing how to play. When we’re kids, play is life. Not yet burdened by adult duties and responsibilities, we are free to pursue fun. For hours on end, indoors or out, alone or with siblings and friends, we do what gives us pleasure at the moment: running, skipping, jumping, climbing, falling, laughing, pretending, exploring, hiding, seeking, finding, and observing. Whatever we’re doing at that instant is the most important thing in the world to us, commanding all of our energy and attention.

Children’s play seems sweet, innocent, and simplistic. But it is actually more complex than we think. Play is vital to children’s physical, emotional, and intellectual development. It allows release of not only bottled-up energy but also bottled-up feelings. In play and pretend settings, children can express and deal with negative emotions and frustrations that might make them uncomfortable in real-life situations.

Adults can gain the same emotional benefits from play, says psychiatrist Lenore Terr in her book, Beyond Love and Work: Why Adults Need to Play (Simon & Schuster Trade, 1999). 

“Our cares, worries, sadness, secrets, are released,” Terr writes. “Laughing, hitting a ball, pinching back spent flowers, moving our bodies around, moving ideas around, gently teasing, playing a role—these diversions create a series of shallow, slow releases that relax us and leave us satisfied, set for another day.”