Play

Playgrounds are for everyone

I think I might have lived on some form of a playground for a good portion of my life. You met up with friends, showed up to get to roll in dirt to get out of boredom, or in my case loved to feel like swinging on the swings I could fly. Playgrounds still make me feel like a kid especially getting to share that freedom for play with my own kids.

Yet, this space has become an interesting and sometimes stifling place for me since having kids. It has nothing to do with my kids but more so the adults who occupy the space.

You see, I know that many parents are in the midst of a daily grind so letting our kids run off to play can give us a much needed moment of reprieve. Unfortunately, this is also the place where parents can judge others or get in the way of imaginative play.

I’ve seen all the parents who have yelled at me for not giving their kids their way up to and including trying to control how I interact with my kids and/or let them play.

Regardless of if they know my story or not, I came to play and get raptured up in my kids laughter and sit with them in their emotions when things around them don’t seem fair.

Playgrounds are still wonderful places and I hope that others can see it and we can get off our phones long enough to swing on a swing with the kids in our lives.

It might even spur us on to imaginative play in the other areas of our lives.