I had the privilege of spending some time with 3 special kids the last two weeks – my 9-year-old nephew Joey and two little 8-year-old cousins, Sophie and Jillian. So needless to say, I had a few days of nothing but play and you know what? It was awesome and in fact, inspired this week’s blog.
In order for this story to make sense, you need some perspective on our activities. Both involved slumber parties at my house and both involved little sleep. During Joey’s visit some of our activities involved a campout in the backyard, a water park, go carts, putt-putt, a batting cage, and a Wii tournament. With the girls, we made an art project, hide and seek, science projects, made cookies, and played the board game Frozen.
Now before you get tired from reading those itineraries consider the scenarios. We had little time together and intentionally wanted to fill our night/day with as much fun as possible. We took lots of pictures and videos to capture our memories. It’s a treat for me to spend time with them. Here are a few quotes from the kids:
- “I want to see how far I can hit the baseball.” – Joey
- “Kay Kay, we love being creative!” – Jillian
- “I know…we can have cookies for dessert at breakfast!” – Sophie
- “Can we stay up really late?” – Joey
- “It’s fun being a kid and pretending.” – Jillian
- “I’m going to be a basketball player when I grow up.” – Sophie
As I rest up from our time together I’m reminded how much joy and laughter lives within kids and how very little worry exists. They live in the moment and just want to have a good time. Now granted, learning must take place, they learn responsibility and all of that other “adult stuff”. But I’m convinced we could learn a lot from a child’s perspective.
Think about your last 7 days. How often did you experience any of these thoughts or feelings?
I wonder how successful I can be at this new task?
You see Joey had never been to a batting cage before but he had a lot of confidence he could hit it as far as he sees MLB players do. Do you have that same optimism when trying new things.
I found an outlet to be creative in my work or personal life.
That means you got out of your normal routine and comfort zone. Sophie and Jillian decorated baseball caps with stencils and glitter – something new for them. We are creatures of habit. Those spurts of “out of the box” thinking are often where inspiration and innovation begin. And those moments energize us.
I laughed, giggled and bell-laughed at something in life.
My favorite memories with Joey, Sophie and Jillian were the goofy times to simply laugh until it hurt. Some of our moments even made them snort! And it was in those moments we were lost in simply being kids.and that includes me too. As an adult, you have to find those moments. Life is hard. Work is hard. And life is just too short not to pause and find humor in the everyday.
So this week’s focus is not technical or academic. It’s simply human. Regardless of who you are or what job title you have, find some time this week to see life from a child’s perspective. I promise you will be the better for it. Find that kid in you….he or she is waiting to come out and play.