Indulging in the Ridiculous
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It’s fun to be ridiculous sometimes. Thanks to ItsWolfeh https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Romeo_Being_Silly.jpg[/caption]
Parents have a great advantage over non-parents in that we get to be absolutely ridiculous without as much judgment.
I want to swing at the park? I get to! I just have my daughter with me and I’m no longer labeled “that weird, crazy lady on the swings again.” Score.
At work, I often get tense because I have to be serious, playing politics, and guarding what I say all day. That’s stressful. When I get home with my daughter, there is a release of tension in allowing myself to join her play as an active participant rather than a babysitting observer.
Playing with children isn’t always work. It’s fun. It releases stress and lets you enjoy life. It seems like sometimes society tells us that everything is work, that everything adults do has to be for a financially rewarding purpose. Sometimes, though, it’s only work if you make it work , if you take the joy out of it or don’t immerse yourself in the positive aspects that could otherwise make it more like play.
Release the ridiculous! Strut your silliness. Flaunt your funny.
Get on that swing. Pretend to have an invisible bear who’s cranky but who would feel much better if he gets a sandwich (yeah, that happened last weekend). Let your kid bounce on your stomach while you act like you’re getting squished (good ab workout btw). Build a fort.
Be present in the play, not just observing that the kid doesn’t kill himself, and you might find that it’s a great mental relief for you as well. Then when the kid is in bed you can return to all serious adulthood. Bah humbug.
Keep Reading
Encourage further ridiculousness with silly poetry by these fantastic folks:
Roald Dahl — Hopefully you’re semi-familiar with his novels, but he also wrote some hilarious poems, including “The Crocodile”. More are easily found online.
Shel Silverstein — He’s just classic. I personally find his poems a bit dark, but a lot of kids like him. His collections can be found online and book sales quite often for very cheap.
Jeff Foxworthy — I was pleasantly impressed with his book Silly Street: selected poems
. My daughter took to the book at bedtime quite well and loved the images. The poems themselves were fine, not great literary masterpieces, but did challenge her to think in a bit of a different way about her world and engage in the silly.
Jack Prelutsky — Maybe not someone you’ve heard of. Check out a selection of his poems here for flavor and check out your local library if you enjoy them.
