work and play

The front page of the Business section in this Friday's New York Times hosted two articles tying work, play and family together closely.  In Sweden... an experiment enforced a 6-hour work day for workers with no pay cut.  The results showed increased productivity for the company due to well rested, happier workers. These workers frequently cited quality time with their families as the most rejuvenating outcome of the change. Not to mention the benefits for the children who had meaningful connection with well rested parents. 

In Sweden, an Experiment Turns Shorter Workdays into Bigger Gains, NYT 5/20/16

Meanwhile retirees in the US are finding it harder to let their work lives go... completely. These retirees attempt to balance paid work with volunteer contributions in their communities and build connections with grandchildren. 

Work a Little, Play a Little: A New Retirement Strategy, NYT 5/20/16

Often work and play are presented as opposites when in fact they are more like cousins, sisters. Playworker and scholar Brian Sutton-Smith said, "the opposite of play is depression." Self-directed time and space is valuable and healthful for the individual and the society and should be enabled, across the lifespan. 

WBEZ - Chicago Public Radio

It's an honor to be featured in the latest episode of WBEZ's Re:Sound about "Kid's Secret Places."  I was swooning with nostalgia in the first ten seconds of the show (and, ahem... singing along).  Thank you WBEZ for sharing the story!  It's an honor to be on the show.

This piece premiered on Transom.org 

KUOW - Seattle Public Radio

Thanks to KUOW Seattle Public Radio for airing a special short cut of the audio documentary about The Land: 'Kids in Europe's "Adventure Playgrounds" Allowed to Take Risks'!

Listen to the full version at Transom.org. 

Action!

And... we're rolling!

View fullsize

​snowball fight

View fullsize

​adult supervision

View fullsize

​This was not here yesterday. 

The playground doors are open and things are going great. Every day is new, a surprise - for everyone at the site - always!  xxo 

Snow Day

Well. IT SNOWED!  

This makes for a beautiful LANDscape.  But sadly for us, the playground was closed to kids for the day and the crew was snowed in at the apartment - with heavy branches fallen all down the drive.   It did make for a great opportunity to interview our gracious and friendly hosts here about their own risky childhood memories.  Hearing stories like these, from the woods, the junkyards, the fields played in years ago, is one of the great pleasures and privileges of making this film. 

Also, have you read this?   Prepare yourself - you may be compelled to shout "amen" from the rooftops. 

We've dug ourselves out and are tucking in for the night.  To be continued! xoxo

View fullsize

photo by Claire Griffiths

Arrived!

Hello everyone, we have arrived in the UK!  I stepped out of the airport to cool temps and a bright sun - it was a beautiful day to fly in and drive through the countryside, passing several sheep farms and lovely rolling hills. 

The temps have since dropped and the crew and I are expecting snow overnight.  We're not sure yet if the playground will be closed tomorrow due to the weather but Claire and I are in touch and all of our fingers are crossed!  Here's hoping for an epic snowball fight on the first day of shooting for The Land! 

Thanks all, more soon!

VOX - Dave & The Darker Side of Play

Dave doesn't have to be at work until 3:00pm.  But one day I arrived around noon to find him hauling a van full of donated wooden pallets - his palms scraped and scabbed from a minor crash on a speeding scooter the previous afternoon.  I would often find him like this, before the workday, digging a waist deep hole on the playground, assembling a rudimentary shed, or rigging a den in a neglected corner.  Playworkers call these "sensitive modifications."  The changes are left to be claimed and re-imagined by the first child who finds them.

He laughs, telling me about a recent shenanigan in which the kids painted his co-worker green (like... head to toe, glasses, jeans, jacket...) and got him to chase them them through the surrounding neighborhood like a monster.  Neighbors and parents peered through their curtains, shook their heads with a smile and scooted their own children out the front door.  "That about sums it up really," he says. 

But Dave takes this work seriously and acknowledges that playwork is not always silliness and games.  Supporting play can challenge adult sensibilities and demands reflection, and humility.  Here, Dave speaks about the darker side of play, and why it's welcome at The Land.