This week is Play Week in Aotearoa, an initiative established by Sports NZ. Sports NZ is committed to getting New Zealanders more active, one of the four ways they do that is entirely committed to encouraging play.
This is something we at Social Nexus are all about. Often when it comes to discussions of play and the importance of it for humans, the focus is on tamariki. As a whanau, my tamariki and I spent a decade at Playcentre Aotearoa, before all three of my children were school age.
Playcentre was a massive part of our lives, for all of us.
The transition from a Playcentre whanau with school kids, to a whanau without Playcentre in our world was potentially the most difficult for me, the adult in the scenario. For a quarter of my lifetime, being immersed in the world of exploration and play and having a clear and obvious benefit for all involved at Playcentre, was often what helped my adult human get through the monotonous aspects of the days as a mama.
I am a playful person generally, I think play is fun and exciting and also, incredibly key for learning, development and mental wellness. But its benefit is not something we age out of.
It is something we tend to infantise and lose appreciation for as we get older though.
I am commonly having conversations with children as I join the line for the swing at the new flash playground across the road from us, Kaipatiki Reserve, about how adults play too. I’ve lost count of how many times a child will tell me, “you are not allowed” or cuts in front of me in the line.
I make a joke usually about how sometimes I come here when you are at school so I don't have to wait in the line! And a discussion about why none of the other adults want to go on the swing is usually what follows.
I’ve noticed, in the few months since the playground opened, more rangatahi and adults alike are engaging with the space, a testament to the thoroughly considered planning and design of the team who oversaw the development.
But also, this should be normalised and encouraged everywhere. And it is.
Play experts like Jacquelyn Collins are working tirelessly with decision makers to ensure that play and playgrounds are accessible to all ages, “I’m advocating to all of the local boards to include more playground equipment that is big enough and sturdy enough for teenagers and adults. I’d like to be able to have a go on a playground swing and not fear that we might need the fire brigade to cut me free later”.
This week, Jacquelyn, alongside six other experts, had a panel discussion with the chair of proceedings by Alex Bonham, one of the 44 elected Waitematā Local Board Play Champions who work with Auckland Council and she is also a Play Researcher. This Auckland Conversations event was attended by over 300 people viewing the talk at the time, it can be found online now and is worth a watch. Not surprising really that people who make play part of their world's focus can be rather entertaining speakers I guess!
To just quote from Alex’s opening, “Playing a lot in diverse ways throughout our lives supports health and well-being, social cohesion, community connections, risk management and the flexibility of mind that can innovate and be creative which helps us cope with and adapt to challenges, including highly uncertain futures. Don’t underestimate the importance of all this for long term resilience, adaptation and economic success, indeed our shoreline adaptation teams are using games to have conversations about manage retreat and are using play to consider emergency response. But even if we are just thinking about our daily lives, I’d venture that for many of us, a lot of our happiness depends on having access to things we enjoy and people to play with.”
This is all well and good in theory and concept. But life often gets in the way of play for me, particularly as I have continued to move away from my roles leading and teaching tamariki in the last year.
And what gets in the way the most is the responsibilities. The mahi. Paid or unpaid.
There isn’t a huge amount of scope in the “Mum/Household Head” role description for Play. In fact, there isn’t any.
As solo mum's, this feels even worse.
So, not only do Kelsey and I continue to “rage against being apathetic”, we also maintain a committed and passionate desire to make space and time for us to be with our tamariki where responsibilities are paused for a bit and we can get snippets of time, just being with them. Enjoying ourselves, them enjoying themselves and us getting to enjoy them.
Because motherhood should get that. Our children should get that. Our adult selves should get that.
We do so much. It's endless, monotonous and uncelebrated. Unpaid even.
We should be able to find moments where we get to play.
We all should.
A book, by Holly Ringland, called The House That Joy Built, has some audio about play and joy, so much so that there are a few videos on our Tiktok account using her voice, including our latest one about Play Week, which we have included here.
Try to make some time for play and joy in your own world, it really is the most revolutionary act one can do in today's modern world. And its indulgent and fun.
You deserve it.