Child's play

Today was a public holiday in Victoria, the Labour day long weekend.  So my son didn't go to school today.

I have noticed that since he started primary school, his need for intellectual stimulation has increased on the weekend.  Strangely he has also become more obsessed with playing sport than he used to be; he doesn't care what kind of sport, as long as he is running, batting, jumping, hitting (as in tennis), throwing, did I mention running?  Oh yes, he enjoys building stuff too.

He spent a few hours this afternoon making himself a puppet theatre out of a disused box, complete with puppets made from coloured icy-pole sticks, one of which he informed me was Jesus on the cross (he attends a Catholic school) and a volcano made from a small piece of paper tube, with lava made from tiny pieces of rubber band and sticky tape.  Later when the theatre and puppets were complete, he put on the show; Jesus had morphed into an air-plane that crashed into the volcano!  I'll have to admit this display of creativity put a smile on my face.  The mind of the child knows no boundaries.

My sister tells me that apparently I used to be as creative in my play time as a child too.  While I am lucky that I still have a creative outlet as an adult, I sometimes feel I am bound by the scholarly approach to my art making that I learned over the years, although at this stage in my life I do feel more comfortable with my arts practise.

So that old cliché to look at the world through the eyes of a child is so true; sometimes we need to step back, take a deep breath and enjoy the moment for what it is and not what we think it should be... and get creative!