At conferences, my daughter received a “three things I love about _________” scratch off. In it, her teacher expressed how she loved my daughter’s effort, spirit, and kindness.

That, alone, was SO sweet. But then, my older son saw it. He had this same teacher two years prior.

He said happily “oh, I have mine too!”

And to my complete shock, that kid RAN upstairs and got his scratch off paper FROM TWO YEARS AGO out of his room. In 60 seconds flat. (No small feat considering his room was a disaster zone)

I teared up. My son is not a sharer, so I never knew it meant so much to him.

And that’s the thing. Even if it doesn’t seem like your kids appreciate the effort you put in now, they will someday. (Or they do now and just don’t tell you)

Kind of like playing games like charades with kids. It’s not always easy to stop to play, but you know you’ll appreciate these moments later. And your kids won’t forget that you put your adult stuff aside to be with them.

Is Play the Secret to Life?

I read something recently about how children know the secret to life.

If you watch kids play for a few minutes, you’ll know why that’s said.

Isn’t it breathtaking how truly in the moment they can be? How given over to joy and wonder they are?

Like how a simple spider web is awe inspiring to them.

Gosh, we live in a VERY serious world as adults, don’t you think?

It got me thinking about how much we lose as we get hardened by responsibilities, expectations, and to-dos.

And how difficult it can be to just SIT and CONNECT as a grownup.

Let’s Step Into Play

This week, I challenge us to make the effort to be more like our kids. To have more FUN and experience more wonder. To notice the simple things around us, like the breeze in our hair and the movement of water. And to sit down and play with the kids.

Because a life of all work and no fun makes for a waste of our one and only precious time here. And these small efforts to be in the moment and be present with our families add up in a lifetime.

I tend to be very work minded sometimes, so this truly is a challenge. But I know it’s the BEST challenge I could do.

Do you think you can do it? And will it be that hard? Reply in the comments!