This week I took the kiddos to the playground with their cousins. As my kids grow older, they want to include friends and family in our adventures.

The cousins hadn’t been to the skate park, which is always fun. New adventures are a breeding ground for the pride and teachings of an older cousin.

“Let me show you this,” LM1 says.

“Did you see this?” LM2 adds.

“Let’s check this out,” LM3 shouts.

But our plans were thwarted when we realized a skating clinic was in progress. Alas, we could not skate on their turf until an hour’s time passed…maybe longer.

No matter.

Thankfully, the kids are growing. And maturing. And becoming inventive.

The skate park has an adjacent spider web/net/play crawl thing. It is red and tall and has a rubber base where a mighty human-sized spider might sit, waiting to feed. It’s amazing. For climbing and playing and all sorts of shenanigans.

The joy of childhood reveals itself when children establish the rules for a completely original game (or so they imagine it to be), which everyone agrees is the best use of their time.

“Last man standing on the web,” someone announced. When I asked whose idea it was, various arguments erupted. No matter. The game was on.

The rules included:

1. Stay on the web
2. Don’t leave the web
3. The last kid to leave the web wins

A test of boredom?

A test of wit?

I have no idea. What I find fascinating is that every single kid (almost every single kid— there were 6 of them on this day) agreed not only to the terms, but also to the coolness, and the ingenuity of this game.

They just hung out on the web. And laughed. And joked. But mostly hung out.

Were they meditating?

Was it an early onset version of group meditation?

I didn’t care. Still don’t.

I cared only that they were unglued from screens/devices/watches/alien robot machines that extract their creativity and zap energy.

My heart rested on peace in the sunshine of the afternoon. And I smiled as I waited to see which kiddo would be the last man standing.

What brought you peace this week? Share the peace!