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About seven years ago, during a Saturday CityKidz program, I noticed a young boy having a hard time staying in his seat. He wasn’t being disruptive in a malicious way.
He was restless. Unsettled. A leader was gently trying to help him refocus, but something felt different about the moment. So I walked over and sat beside him.
I leaned in and said quietly, “Looks like you’re having a hard time today.”
He looked up at me, slightly frustrated, and said, “I have so much energy. I just want to run.”
It wasn’t the first time I had seen this. Many children, especially around nine or ten years old, arrive full of energy. And our Saturday programs, from the moment a child gets on the bus, are structured. There’s music, teaching, games, small groups. It’s powerful and intentional. But it doesn’t always leave room for that raw, physical need to move.
So I asked him something I had been quietly thinking about for some time.
“What would you think if one day, before coming into the theatre, you could spend 15 minutes outside playing? Just running around with your leaders and friends before the program started?”
He stopped. Put his hand on his chin like he was seriously considering a business proposal.
Then he looked at me and said, “I like it… but make it 20 minutes.”
We both laughed.
But that moment stayed with me.
Over the next few years, whenever I saw him, he would ask, “Is the park ready yet?”
“Is it coming?”
The idea was no longer abstract. It had a face.
Today, he is a teenager. Not long ago, I showed him the design plans for what is now becoming the AIM Recycling Playspace. The circle had closed.
This playspace was never just about adding equipment to a yard. It was about listening to children. It was about recognizing that healthy development includes movement, imagination, and unstructured outdoor play. It was about creating space for kids to be kids.
And in many ways, it all began with a simple request.
“Make it 20 minutes.”
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