The Power of Having Fun

CHAPTER 5

Stage One: Your Permission to Play

For a moment, imagine that you’re nine years old. Your teacher is lecturing about the importance of long division or vowels. You’re waiting for the hour hand on the clock to reach 2. You may still have a tough time reading analog clocks, but you know that the 2 means recess time. The time arrives, and, like a Tasmanian devil, you recklessly shove your school supplies into your desk and run out the door. For a solid fifteen to twenty minutes, you play foursquare, tag, follow the leader, make-believe, and — the mother of all recess games — kickball.

Different countries use different words: recess, break, ...