Just Go Play!

I recently watched a TED video that got me thinking about play.  The speaker is Charlie Todd.  You can go to TED.com and find his name under speakers.  His topic is shared absurdity.  I loved the event he staged where dozens of people dressed in blue polo shirts and khaki pants went into a Best Buy and stood around.  Or his no-pants event on the New York subway.  And most of all, I was moved by his insights into play.

As children, we were often told to just go play.  Or, perhaps, we've used this phrase on our own children.  It's also probably true that no one actually sat down with us when we were children, or we never actually sat down with our own children, to explain the benefits of play or what exactly play is.  Children naturally know how to play.

I know that I never even considered whether telling my children to play included talks about future benefits in the job market.  "Don't color, build something with your Lego's so you can put that on your resume'!"  And when I Googled "play benefits children" this morning I got 289,000,000 hits.  Conversely, when I Googled "play benefits adults" I got 81,200,000 hits.  Does this mean that play is much less important for adults?  Or is play simply a time waster for children who are too young to hold a good paying job?

As professionals, who are focused on activities, can we ensure that residents are engaging in an activity and not simply observers?  Not that easy if I focus on creating an activity with all the correct criteria.  But what if we decided to just play, which is important and incredibly beneficial for all adults. Check out Charlie Todd.  He's not only motivating but the video is a good giggle.