The Invention of Fun

16 de Agosto de 2012

I was wondering the other day while listening to my son laugh, what is to children that everything is fun for them? What makes them laugh so hard, so long, and with such sincerity? Well, I got into the search for answers on my favorite site Baby Center. I came across this short article that says that the sillier things are the ones that make your 3-year-old laugh his heart out.

I recall one occasion I was practicing my Ashtanga Yoga moves, which I have begun to master quite well, and during my downward facing dog, my son crawled to my face and started wanting to say something... I played along, looked at him more seriously than usual, and waited for him to talk... no words came out from him, he just stared at my eyes. While holding my balance and getting to a state of concentration so hard not to fall while looking directly into his eyes, I couldn't stand it; I laughed so hard when my son burst into a continuous cackle. He then crossed "the bridge" underneath me a couple of times. I warned him "I'm coming down, closing the bridge, I will catch you!" "Mommy, horse, horse!" he said. We had a great time together that afternoon.

I don't mind my child coming up to me and interrupting my workout. I have learned that time is one of the most valuable assets one can have and that one has to appreciate and embrace it with candor and joy. Because life happens in an instant, one moment in space, one circumstance, one event that will not repeat itself ever. One needs to get a hold of it and LIVE IT! Yoga will always be there later.

The laughter of your son resulting from a stare, or a transformation of you into a horse in an instant will make your day, I promise. And children need so little to have fun. Everything for them at the tender age of 3 is exploration, and all the new things they see have the potential to teach them important lessons. From a small ladybug in the rose garden to the biggest Iguana you have seen in your entire life (I live in Puerto Vallarta, and believe me, here are HUGE Iguanas), give them perspective on things. Our job as parents is to make it fun while teaching them to appreciate and care for their surroundings.

My idea of fun is to do cross-training, yoga, swim a couple of miles, run on the beach, watch sci-fi shows, write in my journal every time inspirations come knocking on my door, and cook vegan or vegetarian meals whenever I have the time. Of course, as one gets older, you tend to complicate things a lot more and perhaps the silly things are small and insignificant. I have kept in mind that youth is within us most of the time and our children appreciate us more and get to know us better when we listen to our inner child, when we are silly and pretend everything is insignificant.

I used to be so complicated. I used to believe that I needed to have all the answers to all the "important" questions in life concerning personal relationships, the existence of love, and the importance of one's character. I grew up to be too serious, too uptight, too "conservative" so other adults respected me, and listened to me. I got so serious and it only made me ill. Now all is bliss. When you realize that nothing really matters, "love is all we need" as the song says, you center yourself and just let things go. The fear dissolves and the only thing that you get at the end is peace of mind, peace in your heart. After that, I made my goal to remember I was once a child too.