Play ...

Here some snippets on play from members of 'Touch The Future' and 'The National Institute for Play Science' ..

 .. Play is the courage to practice kindness and safety in all situations.

.. When a nurturing and loving parent is in a spontaneous encounter with their well-fed and safe infant child, they radiate contagious mutual joy.

This hard-wired contagious response is the cornerstone for the child's developing feelings of safety and intimacy. On close inspection - and scientific measurement - we see that this encounter indicates a state of play for child and parent.

Continuing to access this state, as it becomes more complex and culturally sculpted, is a pre-requisite for the capacity for intimacy throughout life.

 .. 5 elements of play ..

* In play there is no competition

* Play is manifested by a sequenced pattern of touch that begins with the extremities (hands and feet) and moves up and in on the body. The last place that touch occurs in play is the face and top of the head.

*Categories or labels (such as girl, boy, whale, dolphin, elderly and special needs) are irrelevant in play

*There are no revenge responses in play

*Play is about letting go of fear and learning to trust

 .. There is no safety in such a fearful, contest world that leaves little or no room for living the miracle of love. When we thrive we feel loved and are able to give love. Fear may impel us to survive, but it is love that propels us to feel alive, sustains our vitality, and restores our humanity. We are seeking the experience of being alive. The difficulty is that for us to find it, we must not be afraid of life.

 .. Play's love has everything to do with a willingness to be vulnerable in an unconditional and fierce commitment to another's thriving. In a very real and practical sense this means that as Urie Bronfenbrenner (psychologist who developed ecological systems theory) said, "for a child to develop normally, somebody has to be irrationally crazy about that kid."