Things the playground teaches

Most of the time when my kids are playing outside, I am inside doing the things that need to get done to keep our house running smoothly - laundry, dishes, cleaning, bills, etc. Super exciting tasks, I know. Sometimes I think that I'm just not very good at playing with them. The truth is, it makes me feel inept, out of my league, unimaginative....bored. Until tonight, when my kids and husband taught me a few important lessons.

We went to the club tonight because it's our last night. You see, we decided that it wasn't financially worth it for us to keep our membership for the few odd days that we would go and work out or play with the kids. It's truly an amazing place for kids to play. The upstairs is for preschoolers, lots of climbing things, driving things, moving things, you wish for it, it's there. The downstairs of the portion of the club called The Neighborhood is also amazing. There is trampoline basketball, an 18 hole mini golf course, giant chess, dance revolution, batting cages, golfing cages, a bb court, hopscotch, it goes on and on.

We started out tonight with Lyndee and me staying in the preschool area and Gabe, Ben and Matt in The Neighborhood. Lyndee just ran and ran and ran and ran. The first thing playing with your kids teaches you is RUN. Run because you can, not because you have to. Run with your arms up in the air, hair flying, mouth open, smiling and screaming. And if you fall, laugh and get up and run again only faster! She was so joyful and unrestrained and yes, when we left to find the boys, sweaty. But alas, there is joy in being sweaty!

Then I watched the boys climb in the big climbing thing. There's really no other way to describe it. It has slides, ladders, ropes, floors made of nylon straps, anything you can think of all put together with passageways and different levels. There are two rules - no shoes, and no climbing up the slide. That's it. I looked around for age restrictions or weight restrictions and found none. So, while Lyndee and Ben and Matt went to find something else to do, I climbed up with Gabe.

As adults, I know especially for myself that fear restricts my fun! I'm afraid of failing, looking stupid, spending money, not spending money and getting hurt. All of these fears limit what I will try or do. So, I decided if my 5, 3, and 20 month old could conquer this big climbing thing, so could I. Trying to get to where Gabe was proved a little difficult. There was one of two ways to go, up a ladder type thing, or up a passageway. Well, I took the passageway - code I know now for the LONG way. And not THE EASY WAY. I haven't had my body twisted in so many ways since... well, since I don't know when! And never have I tried to go through smaller spaces! All the time I heard Gabe saying, "You can do it Mommy! I'm right here, you're almost there!" And then, there he was! I made it. And yes, I was sweaty. But, strangely jubilant at the same time. And, still a little afraid. You see, I still had to get down! I looked around. Well, I could go back the same way I came, or I could try to use the alternate route. The alternate route involved an extremely small passageway to another level, an obstacle route and a slide.
"Which way Gabe?"
"I wanna do the slide," he said. I groaned inwardly.
"I don't know if I can fit through there, G."
"Aww, come on Mommy. You never know until you try." My own words spoken back to me. So I decided to go feet first. Wrong. I twisted, I turned, I got stuck, and finally without any grace, I fell onto the next platform. "Mommy, it's much easier to go head first."

What an analogy. How often do kids dive into things head first, no fear of consequences or what will come next? And how often do adults? I, for one, as already noted, prefer the feet first method. But you know what? I'm not so sure that's the right way anymore!

And the obstacle course and the slide were fun! In fact, I braved the small passageway again (this time head first and it was much easier) and slid down the slide again! So Gabe taught me FEAR NOTHING and GO HEAD FIRST.

I caught up with Ben and Lyndee in the jumping trampoline. "I jumping!" Lyndee screamed. Again, pigtails flying, screaming, and sweaty. What an adorable picture. So, I tried it. I jumped, and it was FUN! I haven't jumped in years and although it didn't last long, it reminded me that I should jump more often. Only next time, go to the bathroom first!

Finally, we all went back up to the preschool play area. And we RAN, and we JUMPED and we weren't afraid, and we went HEAD FIRST. And we also played hide and seek. There's not many places for my 6'5 husband to hide in a preschool play area. But, he did it and joyfully. And the smiles and shrieks from the kids made us supremely happy to have had the evening with them. So, the next time you play, lose the fear, go head first, run with joy, jump and scream, and get sweaty. There's good in all of that!