International Darwin Day and the Evolution of Playgrounds

International Darwin day is February 12^th, so in honor of that, let’s take a look at the evolution of playgrounds.

In the grand scheme of things, the late 1800’s wasn’t that long ago.  We had cars, cameras, telephones, record players, electric lighting, and typewriters, but pretty much no playgrounds.  They weren’t a thing. 

Very uncommon and if you did find one, it was what the name says; a place (ground) where children played.  The idea was to give kids a place to play that wasn’t in the street.

Cars evolved from the three-wheeled Benz, of Mercedes fame, that didn’t even have a proper steering wheel, to the luxurious, practically self-driving, AI machines of today. 

Cameras are phones.  Wait … phones are cameras?  Actually, phones are also “record players”, but vinyl is making a huge comeback.  Lighting went from that single brownish incandescent bulb that didn’t really illuminate the far corners of the house to the multi-hued, multi-colored, variable brightness, illumination experience we fully control with our … phones.  Typewriters are now a software program or app that’s downloaded onto powerful computers we take for granted.  Remember typing class in school?  Now it’s just inherent. 

And “playgrounds” evolved from sand gardens that were basically an open lot between buildings, to the elaborately designed and constructed destination play-plexes we see today.  I should copywrite that: “Playplex”. 

Back in 1905, the director of the Washington DC playground system and the director of physical education of the New York City school system, got together and formed the Playground Association of America. 

The PAA’s basic belief was “that inasmuch, play under proper conditions is essential to the health and the physical, social, and moral wellbeing of a child, playgrounds are a necessity for all children as much as schools.”

Hmm.  Sounds well and good, but their literature dictated that an ideal, proper (see, there’s that word again) playground, would have separate play sections, and not only would it be supervised, but there were instructors (on a playground?) to teach children necessary (necessary?) lessons and organize their play. 

They pretty much ruined the very definition of play.  Play is imaginative, full of discovery, not structured, actually fun, mentally and physically engaging, while decompressing from the regiments of life.  They made it regimented.  They took play out of play. 

Early playground apparatuses weren’t very safe.  In fact, they could be quite dangerous, so maybe the supervision part was needed.  Everything has a starting point, so in the case of playgrounds, evolution is a good thing.  Through the years, playground manufacturers used better materials and safety in components and overall design became a thing.

In the 1970’s we had the brilliant idea to stop using asphalt, you know … what we make roads out of, as playground surfacing.  We started coming up with more resilient, softer, and less bodily-damaging surfaces.

Today, we have committees, standards, compliance in design, and so many other safeguards that would make you think the next evolution in playgrounds is a padded room. 

Instead, playgrounds are more elaborate with more play value, inclusivity, challenging, engaging, inviting, and lots more fun than their ancient ancestors. 

The evolution of playgrounds has come a very long way in a short period of time. 

Happy Darwin Day!

Even Monkeys Fall From Trees

Climbing, swinging, sitting, eating, socializing, playing, and living in trees isn’t just second nature to monkeys.  It’s their way of being.

But … “Even monkeys fall from trees”. – Japanese Proverb

Humans fall from “trees” too.  We slip, stumble, and fall literally and metaphorically.  Many times we’re embarrassed and our confidence takes a hit.  We hope no one noticed, we assess the damage, take emotional and physical inventory, and mentally process the moment.  Sometimes we’ll dwell on what just happened; “should I ever go back up in the tree?”

Well … do you know what the monkey would tell us?  Not much, I’m afraid.  It’s a monkey and they tend not to speak.

But, they would be back up in that tree, looking down at us, not understanding why we’re still sitting there.  Because when monkeys fall from trees, they shake their head, regroup, and get back up there, because it happens.   

Even experts make mistakes.  It happens. 

Kids are experts at playing.  And they’re experts at making mistakes.  It’s their nature.  It’s how they learn, develop resiliency, make adjustments, build confidence, and realize that falling or making a mistake or misstep is not the end of the world.  Sure, we might get a little embarrassed, but we shake that off too and the other monkeys quickly forget.

As we get older, we tend to hold on to those mistakes and lose some of that resiliency.  The best thing we can do is keep playing.  Just because we become adults, as if it’s some kind of cosmic transition, doesn’t mean we stop playing.  The activities and approach might be different, but we need to maintain our ability to fall and get back up in the trees.

Keep playing.  Keep climbing.  Stay resilient.

Photo by Jared Rice on Unsplash

The Positive Health Benefits of Our Uncommon Thanksgiving Traditions

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and you know what that means.  Yep, you guessed it: John Madden tournaments with the cousins!

Wait … what? Bear with me; I’ll bring it back around. Did you know that there’s more to thanksgiving traditions than turkey, the Macy’s parade, and Black Friday? 

With just a little research we found close to a hundred not-so-uncommon Thanksgiving traditions, such as: Playing a board game with family, hanging by the fire pit, cornhole, running a turkey trot, bocce ball, or other outdoor leisure games, and taking the kiddos to the playground just to name a few.

In our family, the John Madden trash talk starts right around this time.  Then on Thanksgiving day, first thing in the morning, you can hear John’s voice, “Boom”!  And the gaming has started, followed by lots of yelling.  At some point during the day, John’s video game character will say something like, “Here’s a guy who’s 6’,4”; which means at his height, he’s taller than the other players who are shorter than he is.”

Great stuff.  We’ll play Madden all day, only taking a break to eat with the whole family. 

The common theme here is quality leisure time with family and friends.  Whatever the activity, the benefits come from social interaction while letting go of the pressures of everyday life.  Laughing, playing, interacting, and just enjoying each other’s company is so good for us.

Leisure, recreation, and play with others reduces stress, decompresses our mental pressures, alleviates anxiety, enhances positivity, and heightens happiness.  Overall, our mental, emotional, psychological, and even physical health is restored and upgraded.  Literally, our joints, muscles, blood pressure, heart, brain, immune system, lymphatic system, organs, digestion, and so much more are all positively affected through play and leisure with others. 

Maybe not a cure for eating turducken, but it helps. 

Thanksgiving gives us a reason to do all this, but once a year isn’t nearly enough.  We can’t go to the gym for nine hours once a year and expect to be healthy and fit.  But going for 30 minutes every day will.  Same with play and leisure time.  All those benefits come from relaxing and decompressing on a regular basis.  Still do the full-day on Thanksgiving of course, but throughout the year, we really need to play.

Taking our kids to the playground for 30 minutes on a regular basis increases their learning capacity, alleviates stress, enhances focus and attention, and it positively affects their overall productivity.  But more importantly, all those health benefits. 

Regular bouts of play and leisure with others isn’t just for kids and it’s not just for Thanksgiving.  Neither is turkey, by the way.  And neither is Madden NFL Football. 

Let’s play.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo by MART  PRODUCTION: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-brown-sweater-sitting-on-brown-leather-couch-7330165/

Albert Einstein's Formula for Success

“We don’t stop playing, because we grow old.  We grow old, because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw.

In a 1929 interview with the New York Times, Albert Einstein presented his simple formula for success.  It goes like this: A = X + Y + Z

“While A represents Success, X is Work, Y is Play, and Z is Keeping Your Mouth Shut.”

Hmm … “Keeping your mouth shut” provides some insight as to where his head was at. We can read into that some other time, but in this important formula, there’s Y.  Play. 

Play relieves stress and makes us more resilient.  Resiliency is a huge deal.  Play improves brain function, stimulates our mind and boosts creativity and overall competency.  It improves our relationships and interactions with other humans.  It greatly improves and fosters emotional and psychological stability and overall health.  Maybe more importantly, it keeps us young and energetic. 

Play is so vitally important to human nature, overall health, and longevity, but in terms of success, it’s a must.  Play makes our work better.  Without our “down-time”, leisure, and active play, any time we spend “working” will suffer in quality.  It’s not so much about time spent working; it’s about how much we’re actually accomplishing. 

This is why recess is so important.  Well, adults need recess too.  Maybe more so. 

Play!  It might just be the fountain of youth as well as the key to success.

We’ll see you on the “playground”. 

The Human Benefits of Mindless Play

Mindfulness is a popular go-to term these days: “We need to be more mindful”.  Maybe, but it’s grossly misunderstood. 

Mindfulness is not a mind full of chatter, thoughts, worries, expectations, multi-tasking, distractions, perceptions, ego, and a thousand other things.  That is overwhelming and most of us kind of live that way.  We don’t “notice” it, because we think it’s normal, but it does take a detrimental toll. 

So what then?  Mindlessness? 

That’s actually hilarious, but no.  Mushin.  In the movie, “The Last Samurai”, Tom Cruise’s character while being trained in the way of the sword, is getting thrown all over the place, no matter  how hard he tries.  After one of the hard falls, he’s approached by a fellow student, who tells him “Too many mind.” 

“Too many mind?” 

“Hai; you mind the sword, mind the people watching, mind your enemy.  Too many mind.  No mind.”

“… no mind.”

This is Mushin.  Mushin is the Japanese concept of mind of no mind. When a person’s mind is free of thoughts, judgement, fears, ego, anger, and so on during combat, as well as everyday life.  This is acting accordingly to the situation at hand, without the burden of conscious thought. 

How do we do that?  Mindfulness.  Wait … what?

Mindfulness and Mushin are like yin and yang.  YinYang is not about balance between opposing forces.  It’s about interrelated harmony of those forces.  This is the same with mindfulness and mind of no mind.  We cannot be mindful, if our head is full of “too many mind”.  Mindfulness is being in the moment, within reality in real time, as in unfolds dynamically.  Mindful of being there in the now.  Do this so well, we achieve Mushin.

We may not see it, but this is what happens in children as they play.  Climbing a net, traversing a horizontal ladder, swinging, spinning, balancing, sliding, and running while interacting with others.  No adulterated egos, worries, or outside distractions.  They are there.  Completely. 

It calms the nervous system, we uptake and utilize oxygen better, our brains are more powerful (because they’re not clogged up), pain is reduced, sleep is better, concentration, balance, and emotional and psychological health is better.  It keeps us more youthful. 

This kind of play is harder for adults, because we have adult responsibilities, problems, and so on.  True, but sometimes we can allow too much or blow things out of proportion.  So we practice Yoga or Martial Arts, which both require Mushin/Mindfulness to do effectively.  But even in pickleball, if our head isn’t in the game, we’re not going to do very well.  Same with everyday life. 

Mindfulness, yes.  Mushin, yes. 

Be there or be square.

Photo by Robert Collins on Unsplash