Go Play

“Play is really the work of childhood.”   (Fred Rogers, 1928-2003)

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”  (Albert Einstein, 1879-1955)

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”   (George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950) 

Last summer, I sat for an hour watching my 4-year-old granddaughter play contentedly in her garden. She drew in the dirt with sticks.  She rearranged pebbles.  She sniffed herbs.  She closely examined worms and roly-polies.  All the while, she was talking to herself, inventing stories.  For the most part, she was engrossed in her own thoughts and imagination. I was careful not to interrupt.  Only once-in-a-while, she’d look back to make sure she knew where I was, and then she would return to her play.

While she played, I thought about what I was watching.  Professionally, I’m well versed regarding the importance of children’s play.  Play is essential for normal healthy development.  It is necessary for the development of gross and fine motor skills, for the development of language, for the development of attention, for the development of social skills, for the development of affective regulation, and for the development of cognition and imagination.

When I was young, I remember my mother telling me, “Go play.”  In other words, turn off the television, and find something else to do.  I’m sure there were times when “go play” felt dismissive, my mother wanting me to get out from under foot.  Only as a parent, and now as a grandparent, do I appreciate the wisdom of those two little words, words that say so much more.  Turn off the screens.  Go outside. Go exercise.  Go use your imagination.  Go find the resources within yourself to be amused, to be entertained, to wonder, and to explore.

I don’t suspect my mother was fully aware of the developmental importance of those two words.  But, then, a good deal of parental wisdom is instinctual. Play, too, is instinctual. Nobody had to teach my granddaughter how to play in the dirt. She just knew to do it.

When my granddaughter played in the garden, she did so with no self-consciousness, and with no concern for time.  Her play was pure process, having no obvious objective. I was there in the background watching and monitoring her safety. Otherwise, the rules and limits of her play were hers to imagine and invent.

I, too, sometimes play.  I play chess and poker.  I play Wordle and other word games. I play guitar.  I play pickleball and golf (poorly).  Fishing is my play.  Writing is my play. For all the ways that I play, my play is very unlike my granddaughters, certainly far less spontaneous and far less imaginative, often regulated by conventional rules, and almost always having a measurable outcome.

The purpose of play in young children is developmental mastery.  But what is the purpose of play in a senior like myself?  Does it help me cognitively?  Does it benefit me physically?  Is it good for me emotionally?  I assume the answer to each of these questions is yes.  Therefore, when I’m sitting too long in front of a screen, or otherwise not knowing what to do with myself, I need to remember, “Go play.”