On October 10th 2013, my publisher announced that 'A Place to Play' would no longer be available to purchase. Those 150 copies sold are now collector's editions! Cherish the book and its message about play and childhood and let's hope that there will continue to be Marthas, Rudis and Trojans in the future who value play as an essential human right.
In my role as a school principal I am often asked about 'work-life' balance and how do I achieve the right balance. At times my position is time-demanding and there seems to be never-ending tasks to do. At that point in time it feels as if I haven't got the balance right at all. However, what I say to colleagues is that what we bring to teaching includes part of ourselves that occurs outside of the school and that if we don't bring our interests, our passions and our talents beyond teaching to the classroom and to the students, then we don't bring all of who we are. If we don't have anything else to bring other than the working day we are less likely to inspire and engage children. We are in the people business and it is our responsibility to demonstrate that each of us are both complex yet fascinating. Making time for the 'life' part of the balance is as essential as the 'work' part, so schedule it as you do a work meeting.
Martha, Rudi and Trojan taught me many things about myself, with one of them being that I recognise the need for 'play' as an essential part of being me today just as much as when I was five in the hot summer of '76.
