Nothing wrong with taking the time to play

http://www.limaohio.com/story.php?IDnum=51557
Nothing wrong with taking the time to play
David Trinko - Apr. 7th, 2008
You probably rolled your eyes the first time you saw the commercial for the newfangled gaming system.
Two Japanese men roll up to the house and get out. They ring the doorbell, and when the person answers, one says, “Wii would like to play.”
Play? What a ridiculous concept.
There is money to make. There are bills to pay. There are principles to uphold.
That was my reaction — at least until I remembered how much fun play could be.
I ought to scribble somewhere (this column, perhaps) that I learned how to play again in December. It was a big month, as Santa Claus brought our family a Nintendo Wii, and our wireless provider brought me a pretty cool personal digital assistant phone. (In both cases, several hundred dollars changed hands first.)
Our 6-year-old’s face lit up when she saw the Wii the first time. If you’re not familiar with the Wii, imagine a cordless controller. Instead of pressing up and down buttons, though, you simply lift the control up and down.
The theory is it’s as if you’re operating something in the real world. When you play a baseball game, you hold the controller up just like you would an aluminum bat and swing for the fences (or a third-base dribbler, as I often hit in the real world).
Our 6-year-old daughter doesn’t like to play by herself, which is quite unfortunate because her 8-month-old sister puts the toddle in toddler. So I agreed to play with her as she tried the variety of sports games, including bowling, golf and tennis.
A strange sensation built up in my stomach as we played. No, it wasn’t indigestion. But it left my stomach jumbled like that. It kind of tickled. It made me feel younger and lighter. Then I realized what it was.
It was fun.
All too often as adults, we’re told that fun is childish. We have to put those joyous days behind us and plod onward.
Then I think about how well children work together. They resolve their differences quicker than adults. They find commonality. And, more so than not, they don’t let their judgments get in the way of a good time.
It makes you wonder why we wouldn’t endeavor to be more childlike.
I’m playing a lot these days. On that PDA, I became addicted to “Bubble Breaker,” a fun but challenging game where you try to line as many bubbles of the same color together before popping them. I’ll sneak away for a couple of minutes of silence in the restroom to see if I can top my best score in it.
Unlike most of my mental challenges, there’s a score shown on each effort. I can tell when I’m doing my best, my worst or simply my average. Fortunately or unfortunately, there’s no scoreboard overtop my desk rating my efforts in the work world.
Or perhaps I’ll try a game of “Solitaire,” which sounds much worse to say I play in the bathroom than Bubble Breaker. Come to think of it, Bubble Breaker sounds bad too.
Or maybe it’s time to play tag outside with my kids. Sometimes the giggling in the yard is mine, not the preteens’ laughter.
We threw a Frisbee around the yard over the weekend. Before long, a childhood contest of counting consecutive catches returned to my memory.
I have no actual proof, but I’m convinced playing makes you younger. It hasn’t done anything to the rapidly growing number of gray hairs on the sides (or the dwindling number of dark hairs on the top, if you’re a pessimist). But one thing’s for sure: You feel better when you take the opportunity to play.
I’m often reminded of my grandfather, who was one of the youngest old guys you’d ever meet. He offered this sage advice: You have to grow old, but you never have to grow up.