Procrastination makes me play more

What is it about having parent-teacher conference reports due this week that makes me want to play even more? I was a good girl and started them over a month ago. I had the generic parts all filled out and even started to fill out several of them. I thought I would be done early. But no.

Actually, that isn't true. It is only Sunday, and conferences start on Friday. I have fourteen scheduled for Friday and 11 of those already emailed to my assistant and boss to review. Usually I am sending them through that Wednesday night. I always like to see if my assistant has something to add from her point-of-view and the boss must approve them all before they are shared with parents. I may even squeeze out another one this evening before I give in and go to bed.

I probably could have had them all written today. Writing 22 narratives is never an easy task. I think the writing wheels were well-greased from the A to Z blogging challenge last month. Words and thoughts were constantly spinning through my head and coming out of my fingers. I have had ideas about what I wanted to address in each report for several weeks now. I have been taking extra notes and doing extra evaluations for the past two weeks.

Ah, but for that desire to play. I was going to do a lot of them on Saturday, so that I didn't have to work all day today on reports. Then I got hungry, which led to the text message to The Man about getting food. Mid-day food always leads to various adventures. Sometimes it is going for a drive. Sometimes it is going on a hike. We also ended up meeting dogs at the local Humane Society and shopping for bargains. And then there was the dinner invite from a friend, and of course watching Svengoolie. Lots of playing on Saturday means lots of writing on Sundays.

It has been hard to restrain myself from playing all day today, too. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. I picked up one flat of flowers from a greenhouse yesterday, and really wanted to plant them. I need to finish clearing out the beds. Digging my fingers in dirt makes me happy. Had I given in to that temptation, though, I never would have made it back in to work on these reports. I have also wanted to play all day with my Kindle Fire and read. I did allow myself a little bit of both, to break up the monotony of writing reports.

I always wait until the last minute to get my work done. I guess this time around, I have actually made myself extra time to play, instead.

Why don't children play anymore?

I help drive around kids a couple of days a week. They are involved in all kinds of sports and classes and activities, and their parents just can't keep up with all of the frenzied shuttling around the area. Granted, their jobs are such that it is impossible to be available to do this all of the time. It's great that the kids are able to get in some regular exercise as they practice with their teams or individual sports. But where is the play time?

When I was a kid, my parents owned their own furniture store. Because it was a "Ma & Pa" operation, they couldn't depend on someone else to keep an eye on things while they drove us around. The only other adult available was my grandmother, but she had macular degeneration that prevented her from driving at night. My parents knew they couldn't return the favor, so they didn't impose on any of their friends. My sister and I did not participate in a ton of extra activities, but that was okay. We played.

As soon as we got home from school, we often ran outside to go play in our yard. We lived at our store and had a full acre to explore. We had a side yard with a swing set and a swimming pool. We lived next to a neighborhood where we could ride our bikes. There was an abandoned lot with a track for riding bikes or running or simply creating adventure mysteries.

If we were inside, we played all kinds of other games. Some were store bought. Many were made up on our own. 

Play is important to children. As they act out situations, they learn how to deal with the confusion of their own lives as they try out different scenarios. They do not necessarily realize that this is what is happening, but it is. They need time for unstructured running around and craziness. But today's society seems to have driven them to even schedule their fun; and that makes me sad.

The New May Challenges

Yes, A to Z this year created a monster. I can't sit near my computer without wanting to write something. I have a zillion other things that I should be writing, especially for money, but it isn't happening. I think it is more important that I am writing anything.

One of my fellow members of the GBE2 group found an old daily challenge from last year. Some of us have decided to take it on to see what will happen. Each day has a different prompt. They are not related to a letter, nor any other specific theme. It just gives you a meme and you go with it. Because we are starting three days late and there are three days off, we will just eliminate those three extra days.

Here is the meme list, in case you were wondering or were interested in trying it:

Day 01: Something you're looking forward to this year.
Day 02: Something you regret not having done last year.
Day 03: Something with which you struggle.
Day 04: Something that is part of your routine that you enjoy.
Day 05: Something in life that gives you balance.
Day 06: Something that excites you and fills you with joy.
Day 07: Vacation Hiatus
Day 08: Vacation Hiatus
Day 09: Vacation Hiatus
Day 10: Something at which you've been a champion or the best.
Day 11: Something about which people seem to compliment you.
Day 12: Something you hope to change about yourself and why.
Day 13: Discuss some of the things on your bucket list.
Day 14: Someone who has made your life worth living.
Day 15: A band/musical artist whose music impacted your life.
Day 16: A book you’ve read that changed your views on something.
Day 17: Someone with whom you shared a friendship/relationship that simply drifted out of your life.
Day 18: Someone you met randomly that's made an impact on your life.
Day 19: Something that shook your belief system to its core (a big disappointment in your life).
Day 20: Discuss your favorite movie and why it's so special to you.
Day 21: Write about your best friend (not significant other) and what makes them special.
Day 22: Describe a dark/turbulent moment in your life.
Day 23: Describe a truly spiritual moment in your life.
Day 24: Discuss a spontaneous moment in your life that that turned out to be fantastic.
Day 25: Discuss something you planned that ended up not being what you expected.
Day 26: How do you handle/deal with both success and failure?
Day 27: What is your vocation (why are you here on earth)?
Day 28: What is your biggest dream in life (what one great thing do you want to accomplish)?
Day 29: What WAS your biggest dream in life (you wanted to do as a kid but no longer can)?
Day 30: Someone in your family that means so much to you.
Day 31: Epilogue: Write a letter to yourself.


The other challenge that I came across is a month-long challenge on one topic for Blog Her's NaBloPoMo. This month's theme is "Play." If I can't come up with something every day for that, then I am not the youthful person I thought I was!

So, here comes the madness. You may remember I also had set myself up with the Movie May challenge, where I talk about movies that were created in the 1950s and earlier. And one of these days I need to finish They Live On.....