Bruce Williamson - Certifying the right to play

This is a picture of Bruce Williamson, at 2 years of age, on his way to becoming author of The Certificate of the Right to Play. With this certificate, you, too, can become "A lifetime member in good standing of the Society of Childlike Grownups." It is a delightful thing, this significantly silly certificate, demonstrating a keen, honest, heartfelt understanding of what it should mean to be a grown-up.

It comes from a fellow named Bruce Williamson, whose remarkably mature understanding of the nature of childlike grownuphood is reflected with clarity and a certain hard-won innocence on his Kaleidoscope chock-full-of-resources website. Devoted to teaching us how to become Childlike Grownups, the Kaleidoscope is a spare little website, and yet it presents a rare depth of playful wisdom which is evident just from the titles of its main pages:

Remember the Child you Are
Save the World
Sing in the Shower
Take Good Care of Yourself
Come out and Play
Make Stuff Up
See Things Differently
Wonder Around
Color Outside the Lines
Laugh for the Health of It
Restory Yourself
Pick Up Your Toys
Look on the Bright Side

Amazed that I hadn't encountered Bruce before, I called him up, only to discover that we had met at the Games Preserve more than 25 years ago. Though we haven't crossed paths again until now, Bruce is clearly a fellow traveler, and a gift to all of us who follow the Playful Path.