Love thy neighbour - a playful piece.

Fountains Abbey

If you have read more than one piece on the site you will have noticed a pattern of ‘Words’ items reflecting themed days. I frequently and unashamedly get inspiration from a trending Twitter hashtag.

As I put fingers to letter icons on my ‘phone today, it was/is both #yorkshireday and #nationalplayday in my neck of the woods.

Yorkshire...

I’m a Lancastrian... but I’m also a border town Lancastrian and so, whilst I will happily play along with the old stereotypical divide, it’s a bit like ‘love thy neighbour’ over here. I can see a perfectly stunning view of ‘the other side’ just by standing at the top of our hill, and I spent three good years living in its Capital, so I have nothing but real love for my neighbour.

Play...

I am an advocate of play, because who doesn’t like seeing their kid beam like a lighthouse? I’m also an advocate of learning through play. My daughter cannot sit still for long. Her curious mind is constantly searching for stimuli and she can become distracted, and easily disinterested, when she is formally taught. She tries hard to pay attention, but her best learning is done as she bounces around real life. She learned to count on the swing, forcing everyone in yelling distance to hear those numbers over and over again, as each swing forward and was counted. She learnt her alphabet, plus the months and the seasons, from large floor jigsaw puzzles. She first started forming letters by hand on a chalkboard wall we painted under her climbing frame - writing the initial letter of items in the garden that she loved. B for birds was undoubtedly her favourite. She’s currently practicing her writing by penning her own short stories and ‘plays’, which she can then act out. She’s 4, they’re just a few lines long but they bring her immeasurable joy. I’m all for the joy.

Luckily for me, she’s a fellow cheapskate. She does not need money to be spent to enjoy her play. This morning she was breaking up cardboard boxes for recycling and, quite frankly, she was having a whale of a time. As she bounced up and down, singing ‘flatten it, flatten it’, at the top of her voice of course, she was living her best life.

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Skipton Castle

To be honest, there was meant to be much more (in all senses of the term) to these first thoughts of a post today. It was certainly to be much more honed, but then I figured the best way to honour #nationalplayday was to take my daughter out to live it... So we did...

As such, instead of a well thought out piece, here’s some beautiful pictures of #yorkshire to make this page visit just that little bit worthwhile.

Happy days, people. Happy days.

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#highcroftwriting #words #skiptoncastle #fountainsabbey