07 Jan Happiness is…play
Now this is something close to my heart. The article to which I’m about to refer argues that children should be encouraged to play more; as much as I agree with this I also think the same principles apply to us adults.
Happiness involves a range of strategies and includes everything from pleasure to purpose, achievement to connectedness. Happiness definitely includes play and fun which is why I think this article is so important to consider BUT not just for children. This is something my colleagues and I include in most of our corporate programs because there’s no doubt that fun and play at work are important for happiness at work including engagement, productivity and many other key outcome variables.
Here’s a sample…
SARAH WILSON was speaking proudly the other day when she declared: _ã–My house is a little messy._ã
Ms. Wilson lives in Stroudsburg, Pa., a small town in the Poconos. Many days, her home is strewn with dress-up clothes, art supplies and other artifacts from playtime with her two small children, Benjamin, 6, and Laura, 3. _ã–I let them get it messy because that_ã_s what it_ã_s here for,_ã she said.
Ms. Wilson has embraced a growing movement to restore the sometimes-untidy business of play to the lives of children. Her interest was piqued when she toured her local elementary school last year, a few months before Benjamin was to enroll in kindergarten. She still remembered her own kindergarten classroom from 1985: it had a sandbox, blocks and toys. But this one had a wall of computers and little desks.
_ã–There_ã_s no imaginative play anymore, no pretend,_ã Ms. Wilson said with a sigh.
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