Granted, there are those parents who always seem to find time to sit with their children, colouring or playing games of make-believe for hours at a time, but what about the rest of us? Curious about the subject I did a little poking around online. According to
WAHM.com (Work at Home Moms), playing with your kids on a regular basis is actually good for both of you and something that is more important than making sure the laundry is folded. As you might expect, this time is valuable learning time for the child as it helps the child understand and care about his peers and the environment, develop his confidence and self-esteem, communicate feelings, develop good physical coordination, make decisions on his own, and develop focus, creativity and independence. As the saying goes, you are your child’s first teacher. Play is
the way that children learn about the world and watching you interact is how they learn what is acceptable in terms of behav- iour and attitudes about the world around them. What many of us may not have considered is how helpful play can be for parents. The benefits of play are listed by various sources as helping a parent to understand the child’s interests, feelings and thoughts, imparting values that influences the chil- dren’s attitude at home, school and with peers and, of course, allowing for communication with the child. Further benefits are learning how the child reacts to success,
failures and obstacles, determining the learning style that works best with the child, and developing a special bond with children.
In other words, that game of Bakugan you played on Saturday
afternoon can give you valuable insights on how to best relate with your child when it really counts. When you need to be able to reach your child to help him with an issue he’s having in another area of his life you’ll already have those open lines of communication for him to feel comfort- able approaching you as well as a good understanding of how
to explain to your child the values you’d like to impart to him. For me, the activity I find most enjoyable with my children is reading. There is no better time of the day than when I have their rapt attention, one under each of my arms, sharing a story. Often I’ll begin reading and hearing their comments and questions about a word used or character in the story I’ll find myself looking at my children and really seeing them for the first time of the day.We may have spent the whole day together run- ning errands, cleaning up the house or accomplishing tasks that must be done, but it’s not until story time that we really connect. For my part, I know that I can make more of an effort to incor-
porate play into my daily interactions with my kids and, after do- ing some research on the subject,I plan to put that effort in. Taking the time to slow down and focus on doing something that you can share in with your children is a powerful and heal- ing event that deepens the relationship and will surely lead to some of the sweetest memories of childhood. At seven and eight, my kids are right in that sweet spot. They are old enough to pour their own cereal and dress themselves and have not yet entered seemingly terrifying time period of pu- berty, which I imagine will be filled with hormones, social pres- sures and tween awkwardness. I know that one day the time will come when my children will
have the choice to come to their parents with their questions about life or turn to their friends. I’m hoping those lines of com- munication have been opened and our bond is strong enough that they choose me. Just in case, I’m Googling some really cool Lego building plans for our next play date.
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