Let us go ‘kidulting’

Should we even as we are becoming old give up the child in us? George Bernard Shaw it is who said that youth is the most beautiful thing in the world-and what a pity it has to be wasted on children! So, can we be childlike as adults without being childish? Be playful, have a sense of humour, learn to laugh at ourselves even as we are becoming infirm? Once you do that you hear the creaking of the bones lesser, you feel the aching of the legs lesser, you have lesser need of antacids.

And if you are becoming dour and sour with age then perhaps you should look out for kidulting zones, the fad sweeping across many parts of the world. Kidulting refers to adults indulging in kid’s activities. Specialised stores now provide ‘kiddish’ activities for adults including ‘diving into a sea of marshmallows, writing on the walls’ - bland, fun, and harmless, resulting it is said, in a rush of Dopamine, the feel-good neurotransmitter. These are said to be places for the ‘inner child’ which we suppress because we believe that we need act grown up. As The Economist has pointed out negative emotions including stress, sadness and anger, have reached record highs. When the world feels bleak, the appeal of distraction is stronger. Again as observed by the magazine , Dopamine Land an outlet in London asks nothing of its visitors. There is no information to take in, no rules to follow, no goals to achieve. It is amusing and vapid and brainless. That is what makes it such fun- and childish. 

How ironic it is that stores should be providing a service which we should never ever have the need for. Why should we be burdened so much with life that we forget the child in us? Why should we become so ‘grown up’ that we forget to relax, enjoy, and take life as it flows? Which would mean retaining your curiosity, learning new things, exploring new worlds, never being judgemental, accepting people, forgiving and forgetting slights , real and often imaginary, retaining one’s enthusiasm and zest, playing games -be it board games like ludo or monopoly or marbles or better still physical games like , catch- catch or  that delightful game of eyes-spy, where you are supposed to shut your eyes, but nobody ever does, while the others hide. All this will also mean that we do not have time to gossip about our friends, neighbours, sons-in-laws and daughters-in-law; activities which no doubt gives a lot of satisfaction, but which help no one. So come one, come all, let us create our own kidulting zones and feel younger!