Play: A Small Manifesto
Play feels like coming untethered. Imagine standing on a dock in a harbor holding a fistful of ropes in each hand. These are the ties that bind – your relationships, tasks, experiences, expectations and inhibitions. They have the capacity to alternately delight and discourage. They are the things that fill your mind and days. What […]
Playing Can Keep You Out of Prison
Let’s just jump in with a question that could stir up some controversy, shall we? If you see two preschool kids fighting, should you step in and make them stop? Prior to listening to a most interesting interview between Stuart Brown and Krista Tippet, I thought I knew the answer. Yes, yes you should stop them. It […]
A New Kind of Playground + Summer Recipes and Activities for Kids
The first few years we lived here, I grieved weekly, daily about the fun things my kids were missing out on by living overseas. I did not want to hear one more person say something like, “But your kids are getting such a rich experience living in a different culture!” I couldn’t get over the […]
A Theology of Play
“We think your husband has tuberculosis. We’re moving you to the isolation ward.” Suddenly I was handed a mask to wear, and slippers to place over my shoes and he was being whisked away to a new room in a Beijing hospital. The last thing in the world I would’ve imagined coming next was laughter. […]