Fun Is Fun

I enjoy doing things when they are fun. Don’t you? I think we all do. We’ve been doing some more difficult things in our family lately that have become more enjoyable when we mix in a little fun and/or activity. Imagine that.

For example, last night after Erica had put Nicole to bed we heard her bedroom door creak open and she appeared in the living room seeking help with her new baby stroller. 

You should know that we have a rule that Nicole stays in her room after we put her to bed.  She usually pops out of bed after she's been tucked in and plays until she's tired but as long as she stays within the boundaries of her room, her play is permitted.  

She wheeled the stroller out into the living room because the sunshade had come off its frame. I tried fixing it quickly knowing that she would really want to play with it in her room. After a few moments of not understanding how it was engineered, I knew I needed to send her to bed and fix it for her by morning. I had a choice; I could just tell her to go to her room and that it would be fixed in the morning. Or, I could make it fun. I chose fun.

Nicole is fascinated with the “fix-it shop” after reading a sesame street book over a year ago about a shop that fixes everything. We bring our lawnmower to the fix-it shop to have it tuned up and Nicole points out the shop every time we drive by. We had to get a new battery for our van a while back and she remembers that fix-it shop too and never fails to point that one out either.  

So when it came time to fix her stroller in the context of fun, I chose the fix-it shop as the framework of my fun for her. I told her that it was a very complex job and that it had to go to our imaginary fix-it shop in the house overnight to be fixed. This fix-it shop would do a good job and it would be as good as new for her in the morning. Sure enough, it bought me enough time to fix it alone and it gave Nicole a good reason to peacefully go back to her room and wait until morning for her stroller. 

I was not home when Nicole woke up to a fully-repaired stroller but I imagine that she was thrilled. We will see if she remembers to pay me for the repair later :)

Not to limit applying fun to only those who are under 10 years old, I have been joining a workout group at 5:00 AM called Camp Gladiator. I arrive at a parking lot before the sun comes up (here in Texas) and the temperature has dipped down to about 80 degrees (here in Texas) and exercise for an hour. Nobody in their right mind would do this.  But, the leader applies a bit of fun to the process and suddenly an hour has passed and more sweat has come out than water has gone in and the group is somehow delighted with the past 60 minutes. 

Each day the workout is different and most days the leader brings out “toys” of some sort to make the workouts interesting and….fun. Tires, ropes, weights, sandbags, cones. Many of them are brightly colored, which somehow adds to their fun and appeal.  

At first, I felt kind of guilty for tricking Nicole in going back to bed in the context of fun. Then I realized that I am tricked into getting a crazy workout in the context of fun. Maybe fun is a good application to get things done that we aren’t crazy about doing. Maybe fun is….fun.

Shawn