Play School
I grew up with Play-school on a black and white TV screen. I can still remember the song.
“There’s a bear in there and chair as well; there are people with games and stories to tell…”
I heard these words afresh the other day and it occurred to me that they are indicative of every family and every home. Doesn’t every home have it’s characters like Big Ted, little ted, Humpty and Jemima? Some are fragile, some are noisy, some are cuddly and others are larger than life. Some are helpful, some are less so. Some of the people play games and these games can be amusing, but they can also be manipulative and detrimental. Time and time again, I have learnt the hard way that I have no idea what goes on behind closed doors in other peoples ‘Play school’. It all may seem sugar and spice, but the reality is often quite different.
Things are never exactly as they seem. Sometimes things slush around a bit. People can grow twisted and brittle while others in the most arduous of circumstances seem to become bold, and mature like a fine bottle of wine. And it’s so terrifyingly easy to think that we know exactly how ‘their gig’ works, when the reality is that often we haven’t got our own gig worked out. So next time the door is ‘open wide’ and you are invited to ‘come inside’, tread gently friends. Tread very gently. Sit on the ‘chair in there’ and remember that you too come from a home that is complex and full of characters. Remember that like the windows in Play-school, you are only being shown one fleeting insight of something that is continuously evolving.
Play-school continues to be educational at every stage of our life.