Written By: Carly Fox
It is a hot summer day. Children are piling out of Mom’s mini-van, smiles on their faces, ready for a day of fun. Some kids run around and play, others splash in the water, and some create games with their friends, all while their parents chase after them, making sure they are being safe, playing fair, and having a good time. Just another ordinary day at the swimming pool?
Not quite.
The last time I thought about going to the Children’s Museum in Cleveland, I was probably seven or eight years old. But, as I saw the big tent on the roof, the water table, and my personal favorite, the grocery store to “shop” for food, the memories rushed back. All of a sudden, it was the early 90s, and I was in an outfit that most likely didn’t match, pulling on my mom’s arm to get her to watch as I pretended to be the weatherman on the nightly news.
On Monday though, when I returned to a beloved childhood spot, the situation was slightly different. First, my outfit was hopefully somewhat more coordinated, and the purpose of my visit was professional. For my internship with Invest In Children, Cuyahoga County’s Office of Early Childhood, I have been given the task of creating and implementing a survey to determine the interest level and opinions of parents about an upcoming exhibit. When I walked into the doors of the Children’s Museum, I became slightly envious of the children in the NASA exhibit running around in their orange space suits, and the children in their raincoats splashing in the water area. For five hours, I talked to parents about the exhibit idea, and while the parents completed the surveys, I was the cashier in the pretend grocery store, played in the barn with the stuffed animals, tucked a doll into bed, drove an RTA bus, and looked for planets in outer space. While I may have been more of the parent figure, for a few minutes it felt like I was a little kid again.
Going into senior year of college, it seems like a lot of what my friends and I are doing these days is worrying. We worry about how we will pass the last minute classes we need to take in order to graduate; we worry about the GRE, MCAT, LSAT, Praxis, or whatever other tests we have to take, because of the effect they may have on our future plans; we worry about the decisions we are going to have to make in the upcoming months in terms of how to approach the job search; and, we worry about the economy and hope that it will not be difficult for us to find jobs.
At the Children’s Museum though, my worries were somewhat different. I worried that there wouldn’t be room in the shopping bag for the big box of cereal; I worried my baby doll wouldn’t be able to fall asleep in her cradle; I worried that too many people wanted to ride on the bus and there would not be a seat for me; and I worried that I would point to the wrong state while making my weather predictions. But, for the few hours I was there, it was nice to worry about those things, instead of the “grown up” worries of other days.
It is easy to get caught up in worrying about the everyday stressors of life, but once in a while, we all need to take a break. As we approach the last few weeks of summer, and head into the new year, think about everything you can do to add a little fun into your life, even when the going gets tough!
~Carly Fox