Penny's SAHM Journal

August 16, 2005

A Day of Play
Penny enjoys a day with Caleb and his friends!

Some delayed journaling is required for an eventful Saturday, August 13, 2005.

The day began with a 9:00 a.m., soccer game -- parents versus the children on Caleb's soccer team. Caleb's coach had organized the event and it was yet another great opportunity to build lasting memories with our children. I was excited to have scored one of the goals for the parents. Later, I had to laugh when Caleb told me that if I "really" played soccer (as an organized sport), I would probably end up getting a red card (kicked right out of the game). One time during our morning game, when trying to take the ball from Caleb, I ACCIDENTALLY kicked his cleat and then, another time, when attempting to take the ball from his friend, Christian, I ACCIDENTALLY kicked Christian's shin guard. Caleb told me I was being a "dirty" player. LOL I tried to assure him it was truly accidental. In any event, we all had a great deal of fun and exercise.

The soccer game was followed by two of Caleb's friends spending the rest of the day with us. After the boys played at our house for a while and a friend of mine visited with her daughters, I decided to order a couple of pizzas for the children. When I learned that the pizza would take over an hour to be delivered, I decided that we'd hop in the car and go and pick them up instead. So, I rounded up the boys and off we went. On our way back home, my car, unfortunately, broke down about a little under a mile away from the house. "Well, boys, looks like we're going to have to walk the rest of the way until I can get this car problem sorted out," I said. It was a HOT day, so walking in the heat was not the preferred choice, but I tried to make it an adventure all the same. So, there we were, walking and walking with pizzas and lemonades in hand. Caleb led us to a shortcut along the way that reduced the walk by a little bit. Once we reached our street, the boys conjured up energy to run to the door in search of cool air on the other side of it.

Not long after they ate, Collin called from work to say that he was going to lunch and would stop by my car to check things out. Once there, he called again to say we would need to move it and that he would be home within a few minutes to pick us up. So, eventually we arrived back at the broken-down car location. I took the wheel to steer the car while Collin quickly pushed it across the street and into a nearby parking lot. As Caleb and friends looked on, they were amazed at Collin's strength. "Wow, Daddy, that was AMAZING," said Caleb. When Collin was pushing the car, two guys hopped out of theirs to help, only to realize that Collin had the situation under control. I shouted out, "thank you" to them for their thoughtfulness.

Since my car had broken down not far from an inviting community pool near my house, I had told the boys to bring their towels when Collin picked us up so that we could enjoy the pool after we dealt with the car. Therefore, the next stop was to the pool, and there we stayed for about four hours. The boys used those hours jumping, diving, flipping, twisting and turning from two diving boards. (One of the boards stand about 12 feet tall.) There was a constant motion of climbing the stairs to the diving board, jumping, swimming to the edge to get out of the pool, and back to the diving board again. This process went on for HOURS and as I looked on I was reminded by just how much energy children really do have.........it's truly like they have batteries that never run out. However, it's easy to see that this is how they were designed, and as parents we must be mindful to allow this abundance of energy to be released.

As the boys swan, I joined them a few times in attempts to cool off. When not in the pool, I spent the time between observing them and reading an Ebony magazine and a new book I had purchased, "For The Children's Sake" by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay. I read passages from Macaulay's book such as, "......Play seems so natural (just like anything which is attuned to reality). The phrase child's play is part of our language. It ought to mean that quality of spontaneity, imagination, wholehearted concentration, and joy which should mark all children at play." Another excerpt, ".........And so, over-entertained, pushed, pulled, and tidied up, often the child of today has the rich creative play-response crushed out."

The author took me back to her childhood when she said, "I grew up, until the age of six and a half, in an old-fashioned American neighborhood. We had space to play -- a vacant lot, dozens of yards, an alley, and shaded sidewalks. Grown-ups left us to ourselves to play for hours on end, whole days strung together. We didn't have to rush off all the time to do things that were 'good' for us. The adults left the children free to play and to organize their own time. Mind you, they didn't disappear either. They were there, living and working in that neighborhood. There was always someone to go to when you needed help, and to notice when we were bad. But they didn't meddle with our time. Also, TV hadn't arrived to mesmerize people. Everybody had more freedom after their hours of work............."

I could go on with many great quotes from this author, but I'll pause from that and get back to the details of our Saturday.

We were going to wait at the pool for Collin to pick us up after work, however, the boys requested more playtime together at the house before their parents picked them up. I told them I had no problem with that, but we would have to walk to the house once again (about the same distance as the first walk). And so, off we went. However, the air was a lot cooler this time, so we enjoyed this walk much more. I enjoyed observing all of the attention that Shaun (one of Caleb's friends) gave to nature as we strolled, and then Caleb itemized all the things that had attracted Shaun's attention. It was interesting to walk slightly behind the boys as they interacted with each other and reflected on their day.

Macaulay says, "Grown-ups need time if their life is to support this kind of play................This means saying no to too many time-consuming activities for both adults and children. It means welcoming their friends.............."

Thanks to the gift of time and welcoming Caleb's friends, we can enjoy many days like this!

Penny -- August 16, 2005

Momtoaboy@aol.com