This book was sent to Traveling With T for review consideration.

Well Played

Summary: From Today show contributor Meredith Sinclair comes this ultimate resource for awakening your playful spirit, jumpstarting your relationships, and upping your happiness quotient.

In our age of digital addiction, many of us have lost our ability to be spontaneous. More parents are complaining that they no longer even remember how to play…with their children, their spouse, and even with their own friends. Don’t fret! In Well Played, expert Meredith Sinclair helps readers relearn what used to come naturally and shows how to find happiness through play.

For children, playing comes naturally…or at least it used to. But today that kind of spontaneous fun is harder to come by, for both kids and their parents. With hectic lifestyles and constant technology overload, we have simply forgotten how to play. The solution? Relearn the art of integrating fun and creative play into our day-to-day lives.

Well Played will show you how to fit play into your overscheduled lives with plenty of original and entertaining ideas, including:

Why a disco ball is an essential kitchen appliance
Lip Sync Battle, family edition
Parent-child slumber parties…don’t forget the popcorn!
Party like it’s 1949 with old-school table games
12 dates that are way better than dinner and a movie
Stop helicopter parenting yourself—find things that thrill and slightly alarm you all at the same time!
Grown-up field trips to slap on your schedule
“Vino pong”—beer pong’s classier cousin

Packed with fun and engaging line drawings, Pinterest-worthy DIY projects, and hundreds of lists and tips on reintroducing play into your lives, Well Played is an indispensable guide for incorporating quality fun and playtime into our daily lives.

 

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

Over the past few months, off and on, I’ve felt a need for more fun in my life. I don’t have any girlfriends really around where I live any more and while I don’t mind going out for “me days” to movies, shopping, getting a pedi, etc- sometimes I do feel lonely. (Don’t cry for me!)

So, when I saw Well Played in the book review blog blast email a few months ago- I thought “maybe this is what I need- it sounds cute!”

And it is.

Truly.

Some of the book doesn’t apply to me exactly (not married and no children- although I did earmark a few pages to use with Miss A when she visits!)

But mainly I used the book to remind myself to just have fun. It doesn’t matter if your life isn’t how you pictured it (white picket fence, loving hubby, 2.5 kids and a dog that will protect you) and it’s more like ( 3 cats who love you, but wouldn’t protect you for crap- unless you were holding the kitty cat food while being attacked, no kids, no hubby, no white fence) that I can still have a fulfilling life. Still have dance parties while I clean. Or cook (truthfully warm up meals and make a lot of things like chicken salad).

AND..

That if I don’t make the time for PLAY in my life, no one else is going to make it for me. That it’s ok to color. To listen to music. To grab a big bottle of bubbles and just have fun.

Bottom line: I won’t say this book is life-changing. It’s not. But it’s a gentle reminder that we not only need to make time to play, we MUST make time. Do what makes our heart sing. Have fun. And for that, I recommend this book to all folks!

 

*This book was sent to Traveling With T for review consideration. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.*

 

Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,

T @ Traveling With T