“As I got older, I found that I was lucky to grow up in an environment that was inherently silly. My parents, sister, and I were often dancing, singing, playing games, and pulling ridiculous pranks on each other,” says Maddie Smith in her article, “The Importance of Playfulness in Adulthood.” Be honest: when was the last time you truly played like this? When was the last time you felt accepted for wanting to play a few games like “Uno” or “Monopoly” without making it a warzone?
As little kids in elementary school, we used play as a way to explore the world, to understand people and learn different aspects of life, but it was also our escape from the world around us and enter a new one of our own. If play was so fun and developmentally useful back then, why do we not do it as teens? How could we have fun as teenagers in this day-in-age?
What is “Play”?
Close your eyes and pretend you were a child again; what did you do to pass the time? Play “Minecraft” or watch YouTube? Did you doodle only to realize you suck at drawing but you liked to do it anyway? Did you play a sport because you genuinely enjoyed it? That’s play, good fellow. Play is purposeless, can make you lose track of time, and, “[the] act itself is more important than the outcome,” as Sami Yenigun explains in the article, “Play Doesn’t End with Childhood: Why Adults Need Recess Too.”
Play has an infinite amount of definitions, with none of them being the “right” answer. Everyone has their own way of play, but what it is meant to be is engaging, fun, and explorative.
Benefits of Playtime
Play is able to help kids of any age gain “physical and cognitive skills, creativity, and emotional and interactive skills as they play with others,” as described by Klotter. Yenigun backs this up with her saying, “Childhood play is essential for brain development.” So play can be beneficial for children, but what about teens?
“Benefits to play for adults [include] improved stress-management and an improvement on our overall well-being–benefits we could certainly use right now,” says Kristen Wong in her article, “How to Add More Play to Your Grown Up Life, Even Now.” There are even beliefs that playtime could “transform” and “heal” children, according to Smith. If only play didn’t involve violence, then maybe we wouldn’t have criminals in the world.
Play offers a variety of pros to both children and teens and even adults alike, all being part of everyday development and also emotional benefits such as stress-reduction (remember this). If play is so good for people’s health, then why is it so hard to engage in it as an adult?
Why is it Hard to Play as a Teenager?
As high schoolers, playtime seems less and less prominent with school work overtaking our hours, kids working after school, extracurriculars, preparing for college or, worst of all, senioritis (the lack of motivation or drive to participate in school in one’s final year of school). Don’t lie, there was definitely a moment where you had something you wanted to do, like play “Marvel Rivals” for the 100th time, and all of a sudden you have to complete a summative assignment.
The lack of playtime can usually starts in middle school since, described by Smith, “[It is] exhausting it was to constantly care about what others thought of us. As we age, we seemingly develop the feeling that we need to manage others.”
Because our need to “fit in” overtakes our pride, we have a tendency to neglect the importance of play just so we can seem “cool” to other people. But just because having playtime as a teen is hard and cuts time out of one’s day doesn’t mean there are no alternatives to having it in your life.
How Can Teens Have Their Recess?
There are a plethora of ways adults can get their inner child going again, and all of them seem simple and totally not embarrassing, oh no. “It can be as simple as learning some jokes to share with coworkers, trying a new board game with loved ones, dressing up for Halloween, or snapping goofy photos to send to others. Use fidget toys as an outlet for anxiety, invest in a small zen garden, sing, dance, be goofy,” Smith says.
“But how would I schedule my playtime?” You may ask? Don’t worry, for Sandra Pawula in “Always Well Within” learned about a plan to make a ratio between hours of work to hours of play: “[My friend] recommended a 1:2 work to play ratio for me.” Which basically means that every hour of work equals two hours of play.
Conclusion
Playtime should be part of our daily routine, to help calm ourselves and the stress of school or work. And someday, when we have kids of our own or help raise kids, we will have to bring that inner child in us back to play with them.
Just because our childhood is gone, doesn’t mean our playtime has to go either. It still has its benefits that can help us relieve our stress and teach us that it is okay to take breaks. Next time you feel like you have nothing to do, remember that you still need to rank up in “Marvel Rivals.”
