Wanna Come Out and Play?

Monday: Seeing the inner child in everyone

You know who and what is able to bring out the inner child in everyone? That of course would be a young child or a playful dog. A young child doesn’t care if you are two or ninety-two. If they want to have a tea party you are part of their tea party. If they are on the ground playing with something they want you there participating. They realize you are bigger in size than they are but they still just assume you are part of their group. Likewise, a playful dog will grab their favorite toy and want you to take it from them or play tug of war. They might play a game of take away where they let you try to take what they have but always grab it before you can. A dog that plays fetch will use any human to be their thrower, anywhere and anytime. I would sometimes find a ball on my bed when I woke up in the morning. I am not sure if they got me to throw it while I was sleeping.

Once we became adults, especially now, with almost everyone having a phone camera and internet access with us all the time, many people are reluctant to let their inner child out for fear they will be the next viral meme or be featured on a show like Ridiculousness. There are many extroverts that have no problem letting everyone see their inner child. This can either facilitate the inner child coming out in others or have the reverse affect getting it to hide deeper inside others. I think for most adults to show their inner child they need to feel safe.

If we want to see other people’s inner child we first need to be familiar our own. If we are not familiar with our own inner child we are likely to see other people displaying theirs as just being ridiculous. Like it being easier to show love to others if you practice self-love it is easier to see others expressing their inner child if you know who your inner child is. We need to be open and honest, willing to laugh at ourselves and with others. We need to display vulnerability and not take ourselves too seriously. We need to keep an open mind because not everyone’s inner child is going to be like our inner child. Some people’s inner child is going to be visual like dancing and being playful. Others might express theirs verbally. Sometimes when you know somebody very well, for a very long time, or both you might almost have a secret language. This can be great for you two but you have to be careful around others. Inside jokes and secret languages can being very off-putting for those on the outside and bringing out this form of inner child play can cause others to hide theirs.

In order to see other’s inner child you might need to let your inner child out first. This is the vulnerability I was referring to earlier. Even now at age sixty-seven if I see a swing or slide that can bear my weight I am apt to try it. Be careful not trying to push your inner child activities on other people. While one person my loves seeing you freely express yourself by dancing with abandon they might wish to show theirs differently. For some taking their socks and shoes off and putting their bare feet in the water at the shore might be releasing their inner child while others will be crashing into waves like they were a teenager again. If you like seeing other people’s inner child displayed then compliment them when you see it. Be honest, genuine, and positive about it. Let yours go and just have fun. For some at this point of their journey their free inner child might just be displayed by freely enjoying other people displaying theirs. If you know that is what is happening congratulate them for being able to do openly display that joy. They might become freer to open up more and more physically display their inner child in the future if they are not pushed too hard. Slow progress is still progress. It is often better to ask someone if they would like to do something rather than try to push them into doing it even with the greatest of intentions.

Peace be with you