Writings by me

One of the most wonderful things about having kids is the joy of purposeless fun. You know, the fun we have where the only purpose is to have fun and it doesn’t really achieve anything other than a feeling of contentment that is hard to match.

We all used to know how to enjoy purposeless fun, but somewhere along the way, life interfered. School finished, we entered the workforce, got our first houses, life insurance, kids of our own and all the nitty-gritty life admin that leaves no room for anything without a purpose. Even when we make room for the fun, we can find ourselves questioning whether we should be wasting time on it and feeling guilty for not achieving something. So I’m going to say enough is enough. Lockdown gave us the perfect opportunity to rediscover pointless fun, and kids are definitely the masters at it.

I should add a disclaimer; I am more kid than adult, in fact some of the things below are as much for me as for the kids. But why not? It’s time to embrace that this is the time in my life where I can revisit all that fun stuff and get away with it (until the grandkids come along and the cycle starts all over again…hoorah!). Here are some of the ways kids nail purposeless fun:

Discos

This morning I took Harry to a mini-movers disco at our local Drama Barn. Complete with a disco ball, animal ear headbands, shakers and a bubble machine, it reminded me of how much dancing in a dark space can make your troubles feel very distant indeed. And at 10am on a Wednesday? Count me in. No nightclub I’ve ever been to has had a bubble machine (just a ghastly foam party every so often). Note to nightclubs, more bubbles please

Dressing up

For history day this week at school, Freddie dressed up as King Arthur, complete with crown, sword and shield. We made a makeshift knight’s tabard out of a grey pillowcase and he looked fantastic. The schoolkids knocked it out of the park. From Buzz Aldrin to Emmeline Pankhurst, they all looked amazing. It’s reminded me how much I loved the medieval time period as a child and got me searching for a Guinevere costume online – now for the medieval banquet plans…

Painting

My youngest loves to paint. Painting with kids lets you get away with using the fun paints like poster paint and painting rainbow after rainbow after rainbow. Yes, the mess can be off-putting but that’s why they created paint sticks.

Paddling pools

Listed under my personal top five reasons for having kids, paddling pools and water play are the absolute pinnacle of purposeless fun and the possibilities for fun here are endless.

Picnicking

We can have all the fancy picnics we want, but let’s not deny it any longer; what we really want are Dairylea Dunkers, cocktail sausages, Um Bungo juice drinks and party rings. And inviting our favourite teddy bears? Just yes. Good work kids.

Here’s to a very, very fun summer!