The Importance of Play for Adults
When did playing stop being part of our lives? Who said that only children are allowed to play and enjoy? Why do we take ourselves too seriously, that we forget we could take a few minutes in our day to make our inner child happy?
As children, the first thing we do is to play. Whether it's playing with building blocks and making towers that would come crashing down as soon as it got too tall, or playing hide and seek with friends and sharing smiles and laughter when you’ve been found. With play, we interact, engage and spend time on something that we are interested in, even if it’s just for a few minutes. We looked forward to recess and lunchtime because that meant we could go be with our friends and run around. There are numerous studies stating the importance of play on a child’s developmental growth and there are more positive outcomes in the emotional, mental and physical health of children.
As adults, sometimes we feel like there is not enough time in our day to just play. We focus our time on priorities such as our jobs, our families and other important factors in our lives. Lately, there have been more adult play-friendly things to do around the city. For example, bouldering or climbing gyms opened up. Places like these provide a community for fitness enthusiasts and also people who just want to get their bodies moving. Another example would be painting bear structures or going to a painting class for a night while someone guides you on how to start it. Activities like this give people more time to spend on themselves and just have fun. At the same time, doing something fun doesn’t always entail spending money. Play can mean going for a walk while looking at the scenery. It can also be going to a park and sitting on a bench to read a book. Ask yourself, what’s something fun that you want to do today and try to schedule time to actually do it.
Here are 5 reasons why play is important even as adults:
Physical play such as going to a climbing gym helps strengthen our body. It can help lower stress hormones and improve a person’s mood (Ajiboye, T. 2018).
According to the National Institute of Play Organization (n.d), adult play isn’t always obvious. It can be someone working on a task such as writing a book. For other people, this might seem like someone getting work done, but when someone is fully engaged and content with what they are doing our attitude that is affected since we lose time doing something that we find fun.
Our social well-being is maintained. When we invite our friends, family or even co-workers to watch a movie or play board games, we are able to have that bond and that longing for community fulfilled.
We get creative, for example, your friend hosts a dinner party at their place and she invites everyone for a potluck. Instead of assigning people to bring certain dishes, she says, “Bring a dish that starts with the first letter of your name”. Everyone is then excited and surprised at what one person might bring to the potluck.
Remember that you're doing this for YOU. Finding fun and play in our lives gives us that boost that we need to remind ourselves that we're enjoying our day.
With all these reasons, there is a quote from The Little Prince written by Antoine De Saint-Exupery that goes “All grown-ups were once children…but only a few of them remember it”, and its true often times we forget what we enjoyed doing as children and go on with our day with such routinely expectations. So what’s something fun that you’ll do today?
— — —
References:
Blahey, L. (2021).The Power of Play: 6 Benefits for Child Development. https://www.epl.ca/blogs/post/importance-of-play-for-kids/
Yenigun, S. (2014). Play Doesn't End With Childhood: Why Adults Need Recess Too
Ajiboye, T. (2018). Adults need recess too. Here's why you should make time to play.
https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/adults-need-recess-too-here-s-why-you-should-make-ncna887396
National Institute for Play (n.d) Play Isn’t Just for Kids. https://www.nifplay.org