Every now and again, grown folks need to touch base with their inner child. As in take a break from parenting, relax, and unplug from the rat race of life.

That happened some time ago for this writer when a few of his college friends got together to hang out. Unlike most ordinary venues, the choice was to link up at Central Park and have a kids-free hangout.

Well… the kids were part of the packaged deal, no running away from that, so, it was a huge gathering of parents and children to relax and enjoy some time away from reality and unplug.

Turns out, nothing brings out the inner child in people than having a bunch of children in a park lead the way of being free as children.

Um… this is Central Park we’re talking about, in NYC. There was no gallivanting about freely.

So. Turns out, nothing brings out the inner child in people than having a bunch of children in a park lead the way of being politely constrained children.

Bottom line, everyone managed to have a blast. In the heart of the busiest city we know of, we managed to find a bit of peace to reconnect and strengthen the bonds of friendship.

Question is, will this be a tradition? Will there be moments of kids-free zone for these parents?

Probably not. What was the best part of this whole gathering however was that the children got to see that their parents can be cool and have cool friends. It was a sweet reminder of why we’re all friends to begin with and how we managed to stay friends despite the long passage of time.

Once Upon a Central Park – parents need to have fun too… with their children in tow.