Getting Together to Play

Three boys played with a garden hose in their backyard on a warm summer day. Their mother was at the open window working and watching when they went into a huddle. She said, "I knew instantly what they were plotting, so I yelled, "If you do, you'll have to clean it up!" They huddled again to discuss this new development. Then they turned the water hose on their mother through the open window. She said, "We all dissolved into laughter." The three boys came in the house, got towels, and wiped down the cupboards, the walls, and the floor. This childlike mother said, "I never told them until recently how delighted I was to get all that work done in play."

I have always believed in play because my father told us kids, "You have to play as you go along. You can't save it up." However, it is a good-sized step from believing to doing. I am a long way from being fully released to play. I have learned from these three kids and their second huddle. They rehuddled so they could do a cost-benefit ratio. The question they had to answer was, "Will the fun of hosing down Mom be worth the cleanup?" They decided it would, so they rapidly put their plan into action. Play costs something -- sometimes money; always it takes time I could invest in productive work. Yet in the second huddle I sometimes decide it is worth it.

One can play alone, but that soon gets old. I have relearned from these children the value of getting together to play. This will be my twentieth summer for teaching a "Learning from Children" class at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. I've been releasing myself to play more in that class. I have also started a one-day winter seminar called "Improvisation in Counseling." A friend and I teach this. Improv and play go well together.

My two favorite birds are penguins and sand-hill cranes. They are both awkward when they walk. But the penguins are graceful when they swim, and the cranes are graceful when they fly. There's a message in there somewhere for me. Every year when winter shakes hands with spring, 500,000 sand-hill cranes arrive in the Platte valley for the largest gathering of sand-hill cranes in the world. We had a "Families in Crisis" Retreat during that time. The cranes with their tilted take-offs, lumbering landings, and mysterious mating dances inspired me to do a sand-hill crane imitation at the retreat. I have no idea what came over me, except that I did a quick cost-benefit ratio and thought, "Why not?"

We know the Lord was right--we need to come apart and rest a little while. After doing the crane routine, I felt relaxed and rested, albeit a little embarrassed. Actually, I do not mind making a fool of myself when I know I'm doing it. It is all those other times when I have no idea I am doing it that get to me later.

Next spring I plan to get the others at the retreat to join me. We can all be sand-hill cranes for a few minutes and enjoy the play, fun, and awkward embarrassment together.

Paul Welter has recareered after a long tenure at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. He still teaches "Learning from Children" there and leads seminars. Paul's radio show airs especially for farmers and truckers on several midwest stations. He also consults with businesses and organizations in the area of work-weariness.

Paul's books, Heading for Home & Learning from Children are available from FAW.