Imagine That

I caught myself in a moment of reflection the other day. I was thinking back to the days when I was a kid and how my friends and I so often used our imaginations during play time.

For example, my buddy and I used play with Hot Wheels for hours. We would find a dirt patch in the backyard and make dirt roads, dig tunnels, jumps and have new names for each other like Bob and Chuck. We would simply play and our imaginations took over as we raced around our track creating all sorts of race car scenarios as we did.

I was reflecting back to those days after a moment last week when Tanner stood amongst a room full of toys and books only to declare he was bored and had nothing to do. In a classic move, my jaw dropped and I lectured him on how “when I was a kid we didn’t have all the stuff you kids have today and we relied on using our imagination to create our own games!” Yep. That’s right. I did it. I gave parent speech #602. That’s the speech on ‘using one’s imagination.’

Frankly, I started to worry that I may actually have to teach this kid how to play. It kind of bummed me out.

Alas, all is right in the world of imagination land this week and I have placed my ‘lack of imagination’ fears behind me for the time being.

My faith was restored yesterday when, after a long battle with a loose tooth, Tanner excitedly came running to me after school declaring that he had pulled his tooth, which he tried to pull out by himself four days before, and he was thrilled for the evening and the tooth fairy. Excuse me? Did he say tooth fairy? Yes he did! Can we all say “IMA-GIN-A-TION!”

Let’s follow that up with a play date from yesterday. Tanner had his buddy over after school and for what seemed like an hour they walked aimlessly around the house and yard poking at this and kicking that. Once again they seemed lost in a world of toys, and I was once again getting ready to pull out good ole speech # 602.

I decided it better to move on to some garden work and give everybody, including myself, a little space.

About 30 minutes passed and the boys were nowhere to be found. I knew they were inside and it was very quiet. I kind of did the ‘sneaky dad tip-toe’ maneuver into the house and was delighted at what I found.

These guys had taken all of Tanner’s bath toys out of the tub and lined them up on his bed. (By the way, Tanner’s bath toys are all water creatures like sharks, dolphins, seals, eels, etc.) They had come up with this game where Tanner was the veterinarian who ran the hospital, or in this case a bathroom sink full of water. His buddy would walk various sea creatures from Tanner’s bedroom to the bathroom and drop them off for Tanner to “make better.” Once cured, Tanner would yell to his buddy who would come get the creature and return to Tanner’s bed.

To most, it was a goofy game with no point, but to me it was awesome. I saw two boys take a bathroom sink and turn it into a play land. They had devised their own rules and whereas you and I would have no clue what to do, they were both in tune with each other and played well together.

It was then that a lightbulb lit up over my head. Looking back to when I was a kid, it was more common for my folks to simply tell me it was time to go outside and play. They didn’t come up with games for me or structure activities. They simply told me “no more TV, go outside and play.” They did me a favor and forced me to explore, find things to do and use my imagination in the process.

You know that saying “less is more”? Well, maybe there is something to that with regard to kids. Maybe I have been too active with Tanner and his playtimes. I know I continually try and offer up ideas of things that he can do when he seems bored or when I want him away from the TV.

The more I think about it, I guess it’s hard to use your imagination when someone is telling you how to play all the time. I’m taking a new direction and deciding that maybe the best way to get them to use their imagination is to simply leave them alone.

I’ll let you know how this goes over time. Tanner is just now turning 7. Does one’s imagination increase with age? How do your children do when it comes to entertaining themselves?

Tagged as: single-parent