A moment of jealousy about a child rolling down a hill reveals how quickly adults judge themselves and stop allowing playful impulses. Play is not limited to childhood or frivolous behavior. The desire to play is described as a core emotional system hardwired in mammals, essential for healthy development. Play helps children rehearse skills needed later, including navigating social hierarchies, managing stress, and regulating emotions. Adults who bring playfulness to work can be more creative, and athletes may experience more flow during training. Adults deprived of play as children show emotional dysregulation, difficulties in relationships, higher addiction rates, and rigidity, making adaptation harder when circumstances change.
"When researcher Stuart Brown studied adults who were deprived of play as children, he found they had "virtually omnipresent emotional dysregulation" - this manifested as trouble developing healthy relationships, higher rates of addiction, and a sense of rigidity about themselves. When life changed around them, they struggled to imagine how they might adapt."
Read at Big Think
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