Play is anything that is spontaneously done for its own sake. At least, that's how Stuart Brown defines it. Often, it appears purposeless. Yet, he works as president for the National Institute of Play. Now if you're like me, you're thinking, "There's a national institute...of play? Do I pay taxes on that? And he works for the institute? What?"
Also, if you're like me, you really don't spend a lot of time playing. You work all day and then have dinner in order to connect with your wife and read in order to relax and...is there anything we do with no purpose at all? Do you feel bad when you spent an hour wasting time, just playing?
In his NPR interview, Stuart Brown said that when lab rats are stopped
from playing, they can't identify friend from foe and have trouble
developing relationships (Not that lab rats ask each other out for
coffee...but you get the idea...they don't know how to act around each
other like 'normal' rats).
Stuart Brown is serious about play. He's serious about how the need for play is evident all around us, written in the DNA of nature. Although Brown realizes the need for play, he can't quite describe how it works. Only that is all around us, and that maybe we should take a second look at how important play is...
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