I had the honor
of being quoted in a recent newspaper op-ed piece that emphasized the
importance of parents and children spending time playing together. Here is what I said:
"In my lectures
and workshops I have spent so much time detailing how there are SO MANY
developmental benefits to parents getting involved in play with their children
that I fear I may have neglected to mention the most important reason of all.
It's a joy! When we take time to play with our children we are sharing the
habit of happiness with them. That's a habit we can hope they hold on to for
the rest of their lives."
The habit of happiness. I was proud of that
line! Perhaps I should use that
phrase more often!
But when the
piece appeared in the newspaper I started thinking.......maybe those words are simply too good to just happen to roll off my tongue.
Had I heard this phrase or read this line before? If so, where could that have been? I had a suspicion.
If something
simple and profound has been written about play, I thought, it most likely can
be traced back to Maria Piers. She
was one of the founders of the Erikson Institute and taught the celebrated
course on play there for many years.
Sure enough, this morning I found my copy of The Gift of Play and
discovered, on pages 43 and 44, this passage:
"........pretend play.......is
one of the most valuable kinds, perhaps the most valuable kind, of play in
which preschoolers can engage.
Such play develops creativity, intellectual competence, emotional
strength and stability - and, wonderfully, feelings of joy and pleasure. The habit of being happy."
So I did not use
Maria's exact words.......and I used them in a different context: in my
case, in a discussion of
parent-child play. But the key
phrase that makes you stop and think and smile - "the habit of being
happy" - belongs to Maria Piers.
I hadn't read The
Gift of Play in over fifteen years.
This morning, as I sat and read it again, I realized just how influential the book - and its simple
wisdom - has been in my own work and my own way of thinking. In fact, as I read through the
book I realized that one of my goals, writing a book about play, is
rather silly. The book I'd like to
write has already been written.
It's called, of course, The Gift of Play, co-authored by Maria
Piers and Genevieve Millet Landau (who was editor-in-chief of
Parents’ Magazine).
Sadly, the book,
published in 1980, has been out of print for many years. I found my copy long ago at a
used bookstore.
On this read I couldn't stop myself from highlighting passage after
passage. In future posts I'll
share some of my favorites. And I
promise to give Maria full credit for her gift of using truly inspiring
language to celebrate play.
