How to Be a More Playful Parent
Before they have children, everyone will have a different idea in their heads about what kind of parents they think they will be. Maybe you will be the free-range parent or the parent for whom family dinner is most important. Or – even better! – you will be a fun parent, a parent that every child wants to see. But then there are children, and not everything goes according to plan. Add to this a pandemic, and one day you may wake up with the knowledge that your children are nowhere free, homemade food is just a pipe dream, and you will not have fun at all.
When we stop playing with children, it’s not just the mood in the home that suffers – play has many benefits for them and for our relationship with them, as Lawrence Cohen, psychologist and author of Today’s Parent , said in Playful Parenting :
Cohen says this is the most productive way for them to learn about the physical and social world around them. “It’s also the best bridge for communication between people,” he adds, pointing to the simple disarming act of playing a pick-up.
What’s more, according to Cohen, kids are easier to discipline when they have that sense of connection.
If you want to add a little playfulness to your daily routine (or you’ve never been particularly playful to begin with and really want to improve your game), there are some easy ways to have fun with your kids that don’t take a lot of time or energy.
Be stupid
This is probably the easiest way to please a small child. Children love parental stupidity, especially when they are not expecting it. One of the best times to implement silly faces, voices, or games is when you see them start to lose their composure over something rather minor and need help getting out of it.
You don’t want to play down their feelings, but when they put off doing a small task, a little stupidity can go a long way. For example, when they say they don’t want to take a bath, and you let out a huge, surprised sigh and say, “But this is not a bath, this is the tiniest pool in the world, and you still cannot swim in it. because I will beat you there, ”and then you shoot the break-in they are going to screech and run after you.
Throw an impromptu dance party
When children have the energy of bouncing off the walls, there really is only one thing left: turn on the music and start dancing like a fool. Take whatever is nearby (soup scoops become microphones, scarves become feather boas) and circle around the dining room singing a song – and it’s all the better if you don’t know the words and come up with them along the way.
Young children love to dance, they love to watch their parents have fun, and they can’t resist the dance party.
Turn it into a game
And by “that” I mean any part of your daily routine that has become a pain point for the family. You don’t put away toys anymore; instead, you are all giant toy collecting vacuum cleaners. You don’t brush their teeth; you are polishing rare and precious stones (make sure to have “oooo” and “aaaa” written above each). You are not dressing for bed, you are racing to see who can get in these pajamas first.
Are you running the risk that any game you create will become the new default game that you should be doing from now until the end of time? Yes, definitely, so choose wisely. (However, this is still better than nagging – usually.)
Steal what they are fighting for
This is one of my favorite Cohen suggestions for solving a very specific problem that you probably face often if you have more than one child: siblings fight over a toy.
“When kids are fighting over a toy or object, just grab it and run,” says Cohen. “Say,“ I can never play with this! No wonder you are struggling over this! And then: “Wow! Even the two of you working together cannot get rid of me. ” Children cannot resist this; they will always work together to get rid of it, he says.
And if that ‘s what they are fighting for, he says stick out your arms and let them have a literal tug of war over you. You will connect with them physically and emotionally, and it will release the tension because it will make you all laugh.
Do not go
Have you ever watched a small child go from point A to point B? No, because small children don’t go anywhere. They jump, jump, jump, run, or spin from one place to another. If it’s been a long time since you missed, I recommend that you start there. The next time you go for a walk with them, or they complain that their legs are so tired at the end of a long day in the park that they need to crawl back, start jumping to the car.
Firstly, they will not be able to resist jumping with you, and secondly, I guarantee that you forgot how fun it is to jump.
Go on a spontaneous adventure
One of the reasons childhood seems to last forever (whereas as we get older, time seems to fly faster and faster) is because children are constantly getting new experiences and creating fresh memories. And you can add to this phenomenon – and slow down time for yourself a bit – by creating spontaneous entertainment from time to time.
This could mean picking the kids up at dawn to take them to the beach to watch the sunrise, or one day calling them out of school to take them to the movies (when that kind of thing is a safe option). Kids love to be amazed by their adventures, and the memories you leave behind are sure to stay with you for years to come.