Play = Work - fun + 2 x eggplants cuz they’re silly
Play is the work of children.
You hear this saying everywhere: children’s museum, indoor playgrounds, preschools, theme parks. Everywhere you go where they take your money so that your child can play work for the profit of some business. You go to one of those kid-oriented restaurants, and there’s a guy in a rat’s suit just inside the door, beckoning for my kids to enter the big rat play area “Come on in. Play is the work of children. Yeah, *cough* please have your credit card waiting, yada yada yada.”
And every time I hear it, I picture Kelsey trudging down the stairs in the morning, going straight to the refrigerator and pouring herself some juice into her cup, getting ready to start her work day. Walking into the play work room, where her dinosaurs await being hitched up to the ducks and puppies for the first parade of the day, the first item on the agenda before having to begin negotations with the 2-year-old. Their daily meetings involve who gets to use the soft go-go puppy first. And after the first parade, after the negotiations, there’s always so much more work play to do. There’s bugs to stuff into the bug cage, a ton of plastic fruit to throw all over the room, and–talk about the drudgery–the hats and tutus and magic wands ALL have to be tried on in front of the mirror.
I see her get all fed up, trying for the upteenth time to get the remote control T Rex to eat the doll’s head (the jaws just don’t close all the way, do they?) “Aw, fuck this. I need a vacation.” Stomping off to her room to pack.
If play is the work of children, what is the job I’m doing? Is it work? If play=work for some in our species, at what age does that become a false statement? I don’t consider what *I* do work, as a lot of the time I’m playing! But doesn’t it sound irresponsible to say that MY work is play? “Do you dare leave the kids with me, honey, because we’re going to go off and PLAY and the hell with responsibilities!”
Perhaps it’s the words themselves. We assume that “play” and “work” are opposites. And therefore the juxtaposition of the word “play” and “work” in that statement “Play is the work of children” gets your attention. But what if you don’t put a lot of stock in the belief that “play” and “work” are in opposition? Aren’t there some other words we could throw in there, just to shake things up? Why must we have always this seeming contradiction in our language, this black or white dynamic? How about “Play is the tea of children” or “Play is the building blocks of children.”
I’m also noting that I personally am assuming that “work” is rather a pejorative term. It’s got a negative connotation. But is that fair to those of you who LOVE your work, those of you for whom working is more akin to playing? Oh hell.
Play is the work of children. MY ASS, I want to scream. Play is the play of children. And get your damn hands out of my wallet!
You’re the one who takes the wallet out. Try pushing a baby carriage to every antique store and thrift shop in some little quaint town, that’s free, do beaches, parks, parties and parades. Check the paper for all the yard sales and local goings on. Forget all this paid for stuff. Kids don’t remember anything they do before the age of 5 any way. You remember though, and we parents don’t want to be cheap with our kids. Correction: We parents don’t want someone else to say we are cheap.
Hmmm. This comment has me thinking. I think I’ll turn this into a post. Soon. I’d rather you didn’t rename yourself “Bitch” though, Mom.
For now, though, I do as many of the free stuff as possible. Walking around an antique store with a double stroller is not my idea of fun, or theirs. But I do the other things. Except for yard sales, because I tend to want to buy stuff I don’t need! There are some differences in childrearing ideologies between your generation and mine. Doesn’t mean one is right and the other is wrong. Just different.
And now… we’re off to go throw vast amounts of money at the ZOO!!