Play Time

The problem with having at least marginally creative children is that sometimes your house turns into a mess but they've got an explanation for it.

Maybe you walk into the room to find action figures scattered all over the place. When you tell them to pick up the toys that they're not playing with, the response that comes is that they're playing with all of them.

"The animal army is meeting over here, but the sea creature army is over there. The dinosaur army hasn't decided who's side they're on so they're over there."

With hopes that maybe something can now be picked up, you ask, "What about the cars?" 

"Oh, don't get me started on the cars," comes the response.

When you come back suddenly a bunch of Disney figures have been added to the mix, along with a large bobble-head of former Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo.

"Why did you get out more toys?"

"Because Mickey Mouse is trying to take over the world," they say. What about the baseball player? "He's Mickey's bodyguard."

You leave again and come back to find both of your sons dressed in Transformer costumes. Surely, now the toys on the floor can be picked up.

"No," they say. "The armies have united to fight the giant robots."

You leave again and return to find one child still in Optimus Prime gear, but the other now dressed as a dragon.

"The armies have gotten their giant dragon friend to help them battle the giant robots," they proclaim.

You leave once more and return to find your sons now dressed like Darth Vader and a storm trooper.

You ask, "And, then Darth Vader and a storm trooper showed up?"

They nod mutely, each wielding a light saber. Darth switches his on, filling the room with a recorded electric humming, and at that point, you just throw up your hands in defeat.

On the one hand, I get a little sick of my house being a mess. On the other hand, I did the exact same thing when I was a kid. 

I remember my one buddy Jeff had a "play room" in his house that was rimmed around three walls with built in bins that were used for storage and had a ping-pong table in the middle (the pool table was in an adjacent room and off-limits). We would set up elaborate sets using blocks, Legos, Lincoln Logs, and add every action figure and army man in the house.

I'm sure that kids play outside now, but back when I was a kid, even though we had Atari, we used to play these really elaborate imaginary games outside. Kind of live action Dungeons & Dragons -- which did exist at the time... I'm old, but not that old -- or Call of Duty that would involve multiple backyards and some adjacent woods. I'd like to hope that at least some kids still do stuff like that, and it's not just all done through on-line gaming.

So, when my kids are using their imaginations, it's hard to come down too hard on them.

Of course, right now Darth Vader and his storm trooper seem to be doing some production number to Taio Cruz's "Dynamite." I could poke my head in, but I'm probably better off not knowing.