Posted by
ldsllvn
17 yrs ago
I am feeling quite bad as I dont really play with my kids - I work full time and on the weekend i spend all time with them but, I would just let them play by themselves or take them our for walks or bike rides. But I never really sit down and play with them.. they are 2.5 yrs old and now are starting to play quite nicely together. Every now and then we will put a puzzle together, but nothing else..
What do other mums do? Would you literally get down on the floor with them every day and play house, tea party etc etc? Many thanks for any tips..
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HI,
I am lucky that I finish work at around 4pm each day so I am able to come home and for 2 or so hours I can play, if my 4 year old daughter wants. Sometimes she wants to go to the playground, or play teaset or chasey, or just watching her play in her room. Sometimes she is happy just to play by herself.
What I do always try to do, regardless of how we play during the afternoon (or not), is to ensure she has a bedtime story and time to tell us about her day at bedtime. She gets to choose whether she wants mummy or daddy to do it and she gets a good 30 minutes to tell us about things that are important to her. She is about to get a new baby brother, so I figure this time will be even more important as time goes on.
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cd
17 yrs ago
You'll probably find that in the next year or so you'll start playing with them more, once they start getting into jigsaw puzzles, and simple board games, playdough etc. My daughter was very into jigsaws bwtween 3-5 (still is sometimes), so we would sit down a lot and do them, then by 5 years was into Mancala, and dominoes, snakes and ladders etc.
Today we had a nice lunch sitting outside whilst playing dominoes and checkers.
Beaches are a good place to play as kids love you building in the sand with them, and they love having a ball kicked around with them.
Try and get down and play with them once a day, even if its just a jigsaw, or colouring.
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it's not so much playing. it's being there, responding and showing interest in what they are doing. facilitate their play. answer questions and help them to discover answers to problems they may encuonter intheir play.
basically, showing u care and that htye are important. and make sure whatever you say in the responses are genuine and meaningful.
for example, comment on the specific action rather then a general 'good' or 'excellent.' you can say "that's an excellent tower u build. it's so tall" somethign like that.
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thank you everyone - i do all that, story time, facilitate etc.. I guess you are right - once they are older, it will be easier to join in - with puzzles (they are just getting into that..) etc..
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Z
17 yrs ago
What I have read is that 15 minutes a day of focused attention from each parent is enough -- getting down on the floor with them, no blackberry, no cell phone, no side conversations with the other adults in the house. My daughter is 2 [26 mo], and when I play with her it is generally coloring [I tape a big piece of paper on the floor and we draw together], playdough [I make balls and then she squashes them to make chapatis], and chasing/roughhousing/tag. We of course do books and facilitating her independent play and chatting about her day while she is getting ready for bed and all the rest, but we find that she is much MUCH easier to manage [both in terms of behavior and sleep] if we make a little bit of "special time" with Mama and Papa a priority.
Oh, and building forts. Sofa cushions and a blanket. She's not quite coordinated enough to manage them herself, but she loves them.
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