Monday Moment - Make Room For Spontaneity

I spent three days last week with teens and their adult partners who were learning to teach nutrition and fitness to younger children in after-school settings. Each day included lessons for the teens and adults, opportunities for participants to practice teaching one another, games and healthy snacks. My role was mostly to liven up the training with active games – while teaching the group games that they can lead with children. Boy did we have fun!

I have a fairly extensive list of favorite games – gathered over the span of my career working with adults and children, but I don’t mind admitting that this program challenged me. It seemed like every time we turned around, I needed to come up with not just one game, but two or three. Beyond the sheer quantity of games, I wanted to be sure the games I chose were truly active. No kick ball where one person runs and the rest wait their turn. No games where someone gets out and then sits on the sidelines. No indeed. We wanted to model and teach games that encourage everyone – regardless of their athletic ability or fitness level – to play actively.

I was scrambling to keep up, to always have a game ready that would excite, energize, and inspire our group to play more actively with the kids they’ll be teaching. I’d brought all the resources I’ve relied on lo these many years – except those that were lent out and went missing from my collection. And I dipped into a wonderful new resource called CATCH Kids Club Activity box (available from Flaghouse.com) that had just the kind of games we wanted to demonstrate. And still I was scrambling.

And then, serendipity stepped in. It was mid-afternoon. I was tired. I wanted more than anything else to lie on the floor with my feet up in the air. Without a real plan, that’s what I did. I invited the teens to join me in a circle with our heads together, and tossed a couple beach balls in the air. Our task – to keep the balls in the air with our hands or our feet. Who knew that could be so fun? Our group mastered that task so well, I wondered aloud if we thought we might be able to handle the larger and heavier exercise ball I had brought along. Yeah! And the fun quotient leaped! Adults got in the game batting the ball back to our circle, and the giggles escalated every time someone made contact. It was like each hit or kick of the ball was a surprise – a funny, exciting surprise! When it was time to stop playing and move on to the next topic, none of us wanted to quit!

I’m thinking there’s a lesson in this experience. When I prepare well, when I draw on all my resources, I shouldn’t forget the spontaneous possibilities, the kind that bubble up almost of their own accord. I ought to let myself set up a situation and say, “I wonder what would happen if we …?” I can’t give up the preparation or the digging through resources, because that’s what gives me the confidence to be spontaneous. But I will remember to let some unexpected fun bubble up from wherever that well of inspiration resides. Because although we enjoyed playing all different kinds of games, the one we’ll all remember the longest and the most happily is the one with the big blue ball, the game they named “Don’t Get Hit in the Face!”

May you also have a burst of spontaneous fun in the coming week! And most certainly, don’t get hit in the face!

Sally