Like Les, I grew up on a small farm. I can relate to his posts about his farm experiences, but the posts about family vacations and playing - not so much.
I never really learned how to play. To this day I do not understand the point of an amusement park.
My brother and I began working on the farm as soon as we were able to carry a bucket of water. I didn't think of it as drudgery, I enjoyed it. I learned a lot and the experience has served me well.
When my son was young he had free time to play, and he learned how. I thought it was a frivolous waste of time. When he was about 12 he got a season pass to the big amusement park in SW Ohio (Kings Island). I overheard him tell his mother that his big accomplishment for the summer was going to King's Island 12 times. I thought, "WTF is wrong with this kid? He'll never amount to anything!" (He's a PhD medical researcher at Boston University Hospital now.)
To this day my idea of "fun" is building something, fixing something, or learning something new. I'm not comfortable doing something just for the fun of it.
Instead of disparaging my son's enjoyment of play I should have let him show me how to enjoy it. But I knew everything then, I had my view of how the world should be and no one could tell me anything different.
I regret never learning how to play. I think it's an important part of life. Working as a kid is all well and good, but you need balance.