Warmest regards: Grown-ups want to have fun, too

By Pattie Mihalik

While reading The Wall Street Journal this week, I found two articles that “spoke to me.”

In between news articles detailing investors’ anxiety, violence in Afghanistan, and the state of the bond market here at home, I found more appealing “news” articles.

One was a front-page article titled “Recess designed for grown-ups.”

According to the Wall Street writer, adults are reliving their childhood recess memories by playing games they once enjoyed as kids.

In a trend that started in California and spread to other states, grown-ups are attending adult recess programs where they play games such as kickball, dodge ball, jacks, hopscotch and tetherball.

The whole idea is simple: to have adults socialize while they rediscover the concept of having fun.

We all remember the fun we had as kids playing simple games. Kick the can and hide and go seek kept us busy until it got dark and it was time to go in.

Back then, kids didn’t need video games or the internet to entertain them.

While today’s kids seem to prefer staying indoors with a computer or smartphone in front of them, many of us grew up at a time when the only time kids stayed indoors was when they were being punished.

There was no such thing as having a parent say, “If you don’t listen I’m taking away all your electronics.”

Nor did kids need prearranged play dates. If a child wanted to play, all he or she had to do was go outside to a neighborhood street corner where a game was usually in progress.

We knew how to get other kids there. All we had to do was stand in front of a house and yell, “Sammy, come play.”

As a kid I would never ask my parents to drive me anywhere. If I wanted to go swimming, I rode my bike to get there. If I wanted lots of other kids to play with, I walked to other parts of town where I knew they congregated.

Happily, when my own kids were young, playing outdoor games was still in vogue.

Once I asked my daughters what they remembered most from childhood. Both said, “Playing games in the alley.”

They were simple, fun times.

No wonder some cities are now re-creating adult recess, including some in your area.

When the Greensboro, North Carolina, parks and recreation department decided to sponsor adult recess, they set a goal of 500 participants. Instead, more than 600 responded.

The Wall Street Journal writer says that instant popularity is being repeated in adult recess programs all over the country.

I guess I can understand the appeal. What I can’t understand is why any adult has to wait for formal programs to have fun playing simple childhood games.

We didn’t need formal programs when we were kids.

Because I live in Florida, the Land of Perpetual Sunshine, adults often band together for outdoor activities. Swimming, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding and other water sports are most popular.

So is biking. We retirees know how to have fun.

We also have indoor classes that are reminiscent of what we did as kids. Hula-Hoop classes are popular, and tap dancing class has its own devotees.

If anyone follows the adult recess trend and starts another program here, I’m sure it would be instantly popular.

I think the big factor here that encourages adult playtime is that so many of us are retired. We all are kids who just wanna have fun.

During my working years I seldom took time for recreation, except for a bit of tennis and classes at the conditioning club.

When I wasn’t working at the job I loved, I focused on professional activities with various press organizations.

I now call retirement my second childhood. I’ll vouch for it any day.

The other Wall Street article that appealed to me was titled Dancing to Fight Dementia.

While any form of exercise has health benefits, some social researchers are concluding that dance benefits both our physical self and our brain.

Einstein College of Medicine is researching whether group dancing might be a useful tool in preventing dementia.

There is already evidence that dancing improves cognitive health.

Researchers found that dancers showed improvement in a region of the brain important for memory. After six months of dance, researchers saw structural changes in the brains of older people.

The director of the Penn Memory Center explains dancing has three things that have been shown to reduce the risk of developing dementia: social engagement, cognitive engagement and physical activity.

All that is good news for me because anything that lowers the risk of getting Alzheimer’s that runs in my family is something I should do.

Plus, I absolutely love to dance. I can’t hear music without wanting to dance to the beat.

I wasn’t always like that. As a teenager and young adult I was too self-conscious on the dance floor. Which probably explains why I wasn’t a good dancer and seldom did it.

But we get to a certain age when we realize it’s time to lose the inhibitions that are holding us back. Just relax and have fun.

When you’re retired and want to do things to have fun, adult recess can be all the time.

The best thing is no one will tell you it’s time go back in the classroom.