The sound of children playing..

On my way "here" to the internet cafe I'm posting from, I passed a school, it was an older style school, square, four stories tall, surrounded by stoic looking columns, and a slightly run-down appearance. It's surrounded by a rather small schoolyard, enclosed by a black iron fence, small by comparison to most such schools anyway, who's yards are often vast, including baseball and soccer fields, but it was the SOUND of the children playing, in the midst of everything, while they were on reccess, which really stood out, reducing everything else to a secondary consideration. It was loud!

Shouts, giggles, screams and squeels grew in volume as I approached, remained at a fever pitch for half a block and then slowly faded away, as I walked by on my way here. The impression however, didn't leave me, so I figured I'd make a post about it.

These children were in another world of their own continual making and remaking (play), in a state of absolute GLEE!

So it made me wonder..

What the hell happened to us? as adults?

Are we missing something?!

Was something lost somewhere along the way?

Grew up.

Discovered there are some pretty sick people in the world... and I am not talking just about the Democrates either!!

You become tough, mean, more suspicious at those around you etc.

People have hard times or go through terrible events etc and it just plain Hardens them.

Kinda lost what I was going to write but I hope you see what I mean.

Now, it is an almost daily battle to keep the children's world safe so they can be the way you observed.

Most adults forget what it's like to be a child once they grow up. Responsibilities take over playtime, and we slowly move away from childish laughter...It's a shame. Just watch a kid playing and laughing with their friends and you can see how happy a child can be. We as adults should try to remember those feelings. They are what makes childhood one of the best parts of life.

Excuse me now...I'm going to go outside and play.

reply to post by NewAgeMan


Yes, we grew up, became more aware, we lost the spark of simplicity. We became well aware of all the complications in life and it darkens our preception. When we are young, we realize being happy matters, when we are old we discover the same thing, nothing matters but living and loving life. But in the middle of it all we loose our senses and forget.

reply to post by anon72


Do you think the cynical, negatively biased view is helpful though, to increasing the sphere, and the securty of "their" domain..?

And do you think that as adults, the child within is expunged, or can it be resurrected?

Originally posted by isyeye
Most adults forget what it's like to be a child once they grow up. Responsibilities take over playtime, and we slowly move away from childish laughter...It's a shame. Just watch a kid playing and laughing with their friends and you can see how happy a child can be. We as adults should try to remember those feelings. They are what makes childhood one of the best parts of life.

Excuse me now...I'm going to go outside and play.

Awesome post! And good for you!

reply to post by NewAgeMan

Was something lost somewhere along the way?

Yes, innocence.

A loss of innocence, taking on responsibilities and reaiising life isn't all rainbows and gumdrops. Still we can learn a lot from kids.

WOW!!! You made a post about something thats been on my mind for a while.

I'm in the uk and for the last ....ten or so years there's been a terrible absence of the sound of children playing in the street where I live. In the past they were always there but now its all gone.
There are still many children where I live but they dont play like they used to.

I think its partly because the schools load them up with so much homework and partly because it's being bred out of them. DONT PLAY - WORK!!!

The world needs the sound of children playing, its a kind of therapy for us old'ns

Originally posted by NewAgeMan
. . .What the hell happened to us? as adults?

I would say:
Religion.
Greed.
To become insignificant.
To become snob.
To become macho.
To be materialistic.

And because we live with those:
To watch insignificant TV and films/movies.
To NOT watch uplifting TV and films/movies.
To read insignificant stuff.
To NOT read uplifting stuff.
. . . see what we mean. . .?

Then the badly used :
Oil.
Big pharma.
MSM.
Armament.
Chemestry.
Banks. . .
. . .

We may know all those sad things, but stay positive
and do our small parts everay day, like:
Voting with our wallet.
Eating organic.
Do the contrary of what is written up there ! B-)
And. . .?. . .

The first 2 lines of my signature changed my life !
I can tell you that ! ! B-)

Blue skies.

yep...this is a cool subject.....
I sit and try to hear into the playground sound of youngins.....it becomes a sound of it's own, ....one can't "pick-out" a real word....as if it's special....

I think we've lost our sense of play. Things become so serious. I find myself losing the ability to play as I leave behind my college life and transition into the "real world". It sucks.

Yet, playing is awesome! and we try to go back to it. We play videogames, board games. We play music. We go to see actors put on a play. But without associating the emotion into the word PLAY it just seems like another word. (that goes into the discussion of why language is flawed, but that's for another thread)

So sit for a second. Think about playing, and what it arouses in your mind, then let us try to individually put that sense of PLAY back into our days. We need to have fun, it's all about how you think, and of course the adage: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

As we get older the more we start to say, I don't and I can't and I won't. That's what adults are all about, doing things they consider mature. We start putting fun things off to the side because we fear looking TOO childish. Why do you think kids don't like adults? Kids aren't bratty, adults are bratty. We say 'no' to too many fun things the older we get. Do you know how exciting a game of tag or hide n seek can be as a full grown being?

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
Matthew 19:14

And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:3

What on earth (or in heaven above?) did Jesus really mean by this?

Surely it doesn't mean we have to run around shouting and squeeling and laughing in unrestrained glee and happiness all the time!

I've always wondered about this passage of scripture, oh there's the standard interpretations regarding the state of childlike wonderment and awe, but with Jesus' teachings in my own experience there's still more going on under the surface. Within children, there is something greater than mere "innocence", they are also open minded and incredibly curious about life, but without making any assumptions or prior judgements about it, so I think it's that open-minded, open-armed, curious and enthusiastic quality he's referring to, and that need not pass away, whether in mid-life, or even as an older, wiser person who's "seen it all".

Something, something in the spirit, in the very nature of a relationship with life - that's what he's referring to, but even still I can't quite seem to put my finger on it and say ah HA, this is what he means, and he means business when he says that it's a preconditon to entering the state of heaven or eternal life.

What do you think he's referring to?

Originally posted by GBP/JPY
yep...this is a cool subject.....
I sit and try to hear into the playground sound of youngins.....it becomes a sound of it's own, ....one can't "pick-out" a real word....as if it's special....

Yeah, it was like they were some sort of flock, or an orchestra of seemingly random sounds, which are not random at all, because the sound of children playing is pretty much the same anywhere in the world, it has it's cadence, and waveforms (spikes and lows), and yet it's all coming so naturally, and authentically, even wholeheartedly! They don't even know what they are sounding like, they're so emersed in their activities.
It made me laugh, and ponder, and then laugh again at something inauthentic and absurd, about adults, myself included!

reply to post by NewAgeMan


Exactly what you said. You were a child once man, it's not hard. You don't grow up into an adult, I honestly believe that the notion of being an "adult" is just a lifestyle and we start acting like adults just so we don't look foolish. Adults are too insecure.

reply to post by NewerBeing

I'm afraid if I started laughing like a child they might think I'm crazy! The very thought of it makes me want to laugh out loud like a child, and who cares what ANYone thinks! LOL (but in deep, adult-sounding baratones).

P.S. How much "newer" are you ie: what's your age? I'm 45, which is kinda old but not really quite yet..

reply to post by NewAgeMan


I'm close to the youth, I'm 19

Adult's dislike me because I don't fear them. a 90 year old women gets the same respect as a 9 year old girl from me, I'm not disrespectful but when an adult is trying to assert themselves upon me, I don't act timid.

Originally posted by NewerBeing
As we get older the more we start to say, I don't and I can't and I won't. That's what adults are all about, doing things they consider mature. We start putting fun things off to the side because we fear looking TOO childish. Why do you think kids don't like adults? Kids aren't bratty, adults are bratty. We say 'no' to too many fun things the older we get. Do you know how exciting a game of tag or hide n seek can be as a full grown being?

It may be more fun and exciting, because by the time we get all cynical and pouty there's nowhere left to hide. We cannot help BUT to come out to play, every one of us. No guts no glory!

It's called reality. Or at least the reality that we're told that we have to adhere to.

School indoctrinates us, the government demeans us, work strips us of all energy.

Eat, sleep, work, pay taxes, pay bills, have children, teach them to do the same things. Consume, consume, consume. It's an endless cycle. We've been reduced to robotic drones, straight off the assembly line that we call school. Why? Because the government sees us as debt slaves and nothing more. We only exist for their gain.

Don't get me wrong, it's not as grim and gloomy as I make it out to be. Just because we're used as pawns in an immoral game doesn't mean that you have to willingly bend over and take it. I derive great pleasure from being a fly in the ointment, and have done since I was a child. I know that trolling the system doesn't make that much difference. But hey, it's still better than just accepting it and making it easy for them, right? Don't make it easy for them. Spit in their face no matter what they throw your way.

THAT'S integrity.