In many minds play is for children, we are meant to leave play behind as we become adults; grow up, work and leave it behind us. During a weekend visit to Tucson I interviewed fifteen seniors; ten live in a non-profit senior community similar to assisted living and the other five live in a trailer park designated for residents over fifty five where my mother lives. Embarking on this project, speaking with seniors, discussing their responses and having them elaborate on their thinking in some cases, shed light on the diversity of thought about what play is, what prevents it, and how it fit in their lives over the decades. Of the fifteen seniors I interviewed, eleven were female and four were men, their ages varied from sixty five to ninety …show more content…
She commented that they paid her to play all day and was lucky. She retired a second time at seventy five, claims she misses the fun she had helping others laugh and play, but wants more free time. I learned you can be resilient, change careers, and have fun (even at work) no matter what your age. Change is possible if we are open to new ideas, willing to try, and not afraid to fail. Play barriers over the decades was a very interesting subject; when looking at the responses to what the barriers were, the majority answer was consistently work for each decade. I thought that having no barriers would be highest in younger years, but, the answers proved me wrong; as each decade passed those who answered no barriers increased. Caring for children, parents or a spouse was a barrier over the decades, as well as marital problems and finances. However, personal health was not a barrier until respondents were in their fifties when some had knee replacements, neck and back ailments, and heart …show more content…
These people found ways to play, have fun and socialize that worked for them. In a research article I found, the authors were looking at successful aging and what the correlates of self-reported successful aging are. They asked their sample population to rate how they were aging and also asked other questions, including rating the frequency of doing a list of social and individual activities. The activities included: crossword puzzles, reading, sports activities, playing cards, exercise, religious services, watching TV or listening to the radio, visiting with friends or family, completing artwork, attending classes/lectures, or reading (Montross, Lori P., et al, 2006). These are things that could be categorized as forms of play. The authors concluded that, as in past research, higher levels of self-rated successful aging were related to greater participation in activities which was related to greater happiness, better functioning and lower mortality (Montross, Lori P., et al, 2006). The more we stay connected, exercise our minds and bodies, we age better in our own eyes, even if we have health issues that may prevent some activities. This research definitely agreed with my observations. Adapting to aging minds and bodies need not exclude play, in fact it should give us more reasons to