Maybe Adults Need More of This

Life as an adult can be pretty boring. Work, sleep, repeat. Work, sleep, repeat. Weekend – cram as much stuff as you can get done in before Monday. Work, sleep, repeat.

As I talk to my daughter, she is more and more excited about going back to school. She cannot wait to meet new friends, learn new things, find new books, and enjoy each day. This made me think back to my elementary school days.

I remember lunches in the lunch room. The parachute in gym class. Singing ridiculous songs in music. Recess and sometimes, extra recess.

Personally, I think we should have a time set aside at work for “Show and Tell.” That’s right – Show and Tell. I’m not sure I remember the exact way that it was executed. I’d have to think about it. Maybe each teacher did it differently? Did everyone get a chance to show and tell about something? Was it alphabetical by last name and every day someone else presented something? I really don’t recall, but I know I was always excited for it.

I’d always be in awe of some of the things my classmates brought in. I remember one kid brought in a huge shark tooth he got from an aquarium. As for me, I remember bringing things like stuffed animals, pictures from a vacation, Star Wars figures, and new books. I also brought record albums, cool rocks or sea shells I found on the beach, and toys I got for Christmas or my birthday.

I don’t remember ever being nervous when I was in front of my class for show and tell. Maybe this is because I knew what I was going to talk about. The fact that you weren’t graded on show and tell presentations was a plus too. (In later years, those speeches in front of classmates were much scarier.)

In a sense, show and tell continues into adulthood, so why not have it as part of the work day or work week? When you get a new car, you take it to show a friend. A co-worker shared a video of her daughter with us yesterday. Guys show off photos of the prize fish they nabbed out on the lake. My cousin shares videos of her daughter singing. I had a patient come in and showed me his surgery scar. When we got our dog, I was showing it to all the pediatric patients.

Maybe us adults need to start incorporating more of these “kid” things into our lives. I would love to go into work and have circle time where we all swapped stories or did show and tell. I also think work would be better if everyone ate in a big cafeteria with a big grey trash can on wheels in the middle of it. And who wouldn’t want to go out for recess during the middle of a stressful work day?! A scheduled nap time might be nice, too!

So, why don’t you gather up the rest of the class, grab your carpet square and sit in a nice round circle. Who wants to go first? Who has something to share today?