31 May 2015
I know many parents hate this time of year, and given they have to choose between over-priced family getaways or juggling childcare and work, they have my sympathy. Fortunately I love the holidays. They’re special times, when the kids and I can pretend school work doesn’t exist and just have fun.
But if what we love most about a break from school is the capacity to romp freely, why is it that grown-ups don’t join in? When it comes to having fun, why is playing just for children?
I wondered this when I was organising activities for the kids over half term. I would take them out for the day, swimming or to a park, and as more families arrived I would notice the kids throwing themselves into an activity, while the parents loafed around the edges looking bored. While I sympathise that full on childcare for a week is exhausting, lurking around the side-lines jabbing at an iPhone didn’t look a laugh-a-minute either.
Undoubtedly, some offspring would not welcome their parents muscling in on kid-stuff. I recall with shame one afternoon on the beach when my sandcastle building got a little competitive and to the acute embarrassment of my small people, I barely restrained myself from berating a toddler who lost his balance and squished my ramparts. (I’m still convinced the little thug did it deliberately).
But you’ll know by now I can’t be kept down for long, and I’m quite determined to recapture the spirit of childhood, starting with half term just gone. Swim-time found me in the pool, throwing the kids around and dunking them under the water until the life guard blew his whistle and told us to behave. Fits of giggles ensued – it turns out there’s nothing funnier than seeing your mother being told off by a prepubescent lifeguard.
I also joined them horse riding – I learned when I was young, and to some extent it’s like riding a bike (in the sense that you never forget how. Not literally. I’m not recommending that you pedal a horse.) They were astounded I could do it and spent most of the lesson declaring that they wanted to be as super awesome as me one day (the awesomeness being simply that I didn’t need a leading rein and they did. But I was happy to take the kudos.)
Back home, I continued to wonder why it is that we lose our silliness when we get older, but a quick google search proved I might be wrong. After years of requests, a play centre in Yorkshire has finally decided to open its doors to adult only sessions. Grown-ups are reclaiming huge slides, ball pits, climbing ropes and smoke machines, and with the addition of a few beers I can only imagine they are having a riot.
