I was reading last week’s Business Week and came across an article on Richard Sapper. Apart from an inane argument about how to design, the article is a nice profile piece. I especially liked this quote from Sapper: “The most important thing for me is to give everything I do a form that expresses something. It’s not neutral. It has a point of view and a personality.”
So what’s the link outside of the world of design? Well, expressing a point of view and personality in everything that you do. When we’re with our kids, especially little kids, much of the day is taken up by routine tasks. Diaper changes, feeding, bathing, dressing, laundry, feeding, diaper changes, undressing, etc. Its easy for me to get into a rut where I’m doing these things quickly, without expression just to get them done. But when those tasks take up the majority of your time – which they do any time you have multiple young kids in the house – you can miss a lot of opportunities for fun, play, learning and development.
One way that we imbue cooking and eating with personality and point of view in our house is making it a collaborative process. And yes, making calazones with two 2.5 year-olds is a messy and potentially aggravating process. But it can also be a lot of fun. More importantly, it gives me a chance to start teaching my kids real skills and gets them excited about eating. When they were smaller I used laundry folding time to teach them about colors and the names of different articles of clothing. Now, we’re potty training. We combine bum-wiping with yoga practice. Downward dog is fun for the boys and particularly useful for me in that context.
I know, this is getting kind of gross, but it is true. On days when I have the energy and creativity to bring personality and point of view to routine child care activities, me and my boys have a better day. And when I don’t, I not only bore them, but I kind of bore myself.
Office Meets Playground 