It’s Friday, and time to have a little fun. I found this video on the website karmatube.org. It demonstrates a nifty concept from TheFunTheory.com, where they experiment to see if adding fun to mundane tasks can change people’s behavior for the better. Have a look:
That made me smile, because it worked.
I tested a version of this “fun theory” years ago, after reading one of those helpful articles about How To Have A Happy Household. In this case, the suggestion was to make chores *fun* so the kids would be, if not begging to do the chores, at least not complaining about the tasks.
I was dubious, but gave it an enthusiastic try.
“Hey kids, let’s play Laundry Fold-A-Thon! It will be fun!”
{… insert sound of crickets here …}
I read this helpful hint in a parenting magazine, back when I used to subscribe to them. I am pretty sure this particular article was written by someone who did not have any Actual Children.
Now, this new Fun Theory? This one has potential. It’s not just the technology, although boy does that help. It is the cleverness, the innate sense of exploration and wonder that my Chore Cheerleading act did not provide. In retrospect, I now know that if I had simply constructed a Rube Goldberg-type machine to hand each boy a piece of laundry? We could have finished our fold-a-thon in record time*
(*NOTE: chore completion time does not include 187 hour construction time of said machine)
jane, candid 
Have you visited the Fun Theory site? They did a fun thing with a public garbage can too. So smart. We just need to be technical wizards to implement! 😉
Judy, I love the FunTheory site! Can’t wait to see what they come up with next! Unfortunately, implementation is not my strong suit…
Loved the video Jane. Thanks for sharing. I would definitely use those stairs. My feet are tone deaf so I don’t think it would be much like music when I climbed, more like plinking….but it would still be fun! And I agree with Kris’s assesment of the hazards. I don’t think Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia could have done the piano scene from Big on a staircase.
But it would be fun to see them try as long as they had safety harnesses of some sort.
Because everyone knows it’s all fun and games til someone breaks a leg playing heart and soul…….
Karen, Or someone loses an eye. That’s a buzz-kill too.
However, your little feet would make beautiful music, I am sure, because you would climb with a sense of whimsy!
I love this! Just a few people trying to make a difference in the world…
Thanks, WriterKid! Plus, there are more cool projects on the FunTheory site!
Cool video! I must admit, though, as an attorney’s wife I was thinking about the issue of liability. Can’t you just picture a couple of people trying to play chopsticks together, tripping each other up, and falling to the bottom of the subway stairs in a bloody heap?
Yes, I’m a sick person.
Kris, hmmm, I never thought about the liability side of fun. Spoken like the mother of four who has endured countless unforeseen consequences and seen the aftermath. Wisdom through experience cannot be underrated. The bloody heap thing is kind of a buzz-kill though… can we go naively back to the Chopsticks part?