Finding the Kid in You

Being an adult can be so boring sometimes. Most of my day is filled with one task after another. I need to do this and then I can do that after which I can do that. And so on and so on. And sometimes I just don't want to be the responsible adult anymore and want to be a kid again...when I had all the time in the world.

I also wish that I had that kid magic again. I wish that I could believe in fairies, magic tricks, cartoon characters, and St. Nick. I wish this so much that I do everything that I can to keep the magic for my kids as long as possible, sometimes going to great lengths to do so.

Some people think that this is lying to your children...and it definitely is. But I think that the purpose behind the lies is what is truly important. I want my children to have a magical childhood. I want them to believe that anything is possible. I want them to believe that magic is possible.

But what about us boring adults? What can we do to have that magic or at least share in that magic? Here is a small list of things I came up with (you can easily take this list and add it to your own):

• Play pretend with your kids (or someone else's if you don't have any) - I mean really play with them. Fully invest yourself in the characters and try to dive in that world.
• Play dress-up with your kids. My daughter loves to put me in all kinds of stuff. And while I don't always enjoy the process, I'm definitely laughing at the result.
• Get outside and be active.
• Make life magical for your kids.
• Play really hard in the snow. Have a snowball fight, build a fort, make a snowman, make snow angels, etc.
• Go to amusement parks.
• Play on playgrounds. Really play on them. If you aren't huffing and puffing after a few minutes, then you need to play harder.
• Find reasons to dress up. Halloween always works, costume parties, cosplay events, etc. My husband and I dress up for themed running events (see picture below). For some reason, this is a blast.
• Play with toys.
• Watch a movie that you loved as a kid. You may not still love it, but you'll definitely get a lot of laughs out of it and some good memories. One of my favorites was The Last Unicorn. Man, that movie was crazy.
• Jump on a trampoline. I did this with my kids the other day and it was awesome!
• Get dirty and try not to care about it. This is a hard one for me.
• Get over your adultness. By this I mean to abandon all of that embarrassment that is stalking you and preventing you from doing these fun things.

I don't do any of these things on my list often enough but when I do, I really have a lot of fun...and I can almost feel the magic.

P.S. The Avengers run was awesome! Nobody does magic better than Disney.