Ditch The Plan And Find Time To Play

There are so many reasons to play—it’s essential for your child’s growth and development, it doesn’t have to cost anything and it’s fun. Unfortunately, in these busy times, there are so many reasons not to play, too. The ones that Canadian parents cite over and over again are: no time to play, safety concerns, weather barriers and screen time.

The one I find the most fascinating is the lack of time. Our culture of convenience may be a reason our kids aren’t active enough these days. Canadian society tends to do more, build more, impose more structure on everything and this may be at odds with our kids’ health.

Even when it comes to our daily routines, there seems to be some fear of not having any plans.

Maybe it’s not that we don’t have time, but that everyone is bent on making sure they’re never “wasting” time. I think there is a sense among parents that you always have to do something productive when you have a free moment—clean the sand out of the front hall, take out the diaper bin or fold laundry. Even when it comes to our daily routines, there seems to be some fear of not having any plans.

We feel like we have to make the most of all our available time—even on weekends. Swimming lessons, play dates, brunch plans, a trip to the grocery store, learning to scooter. All these activities are healthy and worthwhile and fun, but they squeeze out time to use your imagination and see where the day takes you—perhaps the true definition of play.

It’s almost as though when we have plans, we think we are making "more" of our time. We are guaranteed to get something out of our activities, because they’re all scheduled in.

But you know what? I think it takes guts not to have a plan.

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Today, we left the house for a walk. My little one took a ball with him and he, his sister and I kicked it down the sidewalk. We ended up at the park, where we ran into friends, climbed on the structure, dug in the sand, played soccer around a few trees and then walked home. Later, we ate lunch on the front steps and then the kids took turns climbing and jumping off bags of mulch stacked on the edge of the garden, declaring the pile a pirate ship.

They walked, in their bare feet, on bricks through the neighbours’ garden, balancing through the greenery and checking out what looked like a worm. Later, they blew bubbles, sketched with sidewalk chalk and had an impromptu dinner with their cousins, including some basketball in the back yard, more bubbles and more sidewalk chalk. Oh yes, and some following (chasing?) of the neighbours’ cat.

If it sounds like a full day, it was! But I couldn’t have told you what we had planned when it began. Maybe it’s not that it’s hard to find the time to play—but that it’s hard to give yourself the time to play.

On June 21, ParticipACTION’s Longest Day of Play, give your family permission to play all day. Messing about in the garden is far from wasting time.  And it just might be the best time of all.