GAMES CHILDREN PLAY...

We learn to play many games as children – unfortunately resulting in us learning as much how to follow as to lead. “Simon Says…” is a game played by many a child where creativity and originality are discouraged in favor of doing exactly what is asked, allowed or permitted. Many lessons in life MAY be learned by doing what we are told but far more can be gained through experience. My wife and I took dance lessons several years ago in preparation for a family wedding and an anniversary cruise where I found myself being told “that is not what we worked on…” or “where did you learn that?” often during the learning process. While the instructor tried diligently to transform me into a graceful instrument of dance, she probably became as frustrated with my asking “Why WON’T this work?” as I was by her saying “You are not yet ready for that!”

“Follow the leader” is another childhood game that discourages individuality in favor of simply blending in with a following throng. There can be only one leader while, by necessity and design, there are a multitude of followers. If you are fortunate enough to “lead”, you can pretty much choose your road to success by deciding where the group will go and how it will get there. If you are among the many followers, however, it is hard to have much say in where you are going because you become too busy watching those ahead of you while trying to stay out of the way of those behind you.

In order to grow and develop we must take the principles of what “Simon says…” by watching to see what works THEN building on the learned concepts by expanding them beyond their original intent. We must “follow the leader” BUT only long enough to learn what direction we are going so we do not become lost when going there. It has been said that one learns all there is to know in life by the end of the kindergarten. While I do not believe this (entirely, I DO feel that paying attention to some of the principles taught through children’s games can help us to overcome many of the challenges and opportunities presented by life as we grow older.

I wonder what “ring around the rosy” or “duck, duck, goose” might teach us if we looked at them from a learning (rather than from a playing) perspective…