My bloggy friend, Jennifer, from Mamma Made It Look Easy raised an interesting question this week about "playing" with our kids.
She mentioned that though she does activities with her kids she doesn't actually play with them on the floor. Here is what Jennifer had to say:
"I do stuff with them. I color with them, draw pictures for them, play games with them, talk to them about what they are doing, etc. I just don’t normally get down on the floor and play dolls or dress up or Littlest Pet Shop."
I realized I had to agree with her, I bike ride, do art and science projects, and play games with my kids but I really don't remember ever sitting down and really playing with toys with them (maybe that's why I had 3 boys in quick succession, so I wouldn't have to?). I began to wonder, are Jennifer and I normal?
It's Feedback Friday...
Do you play with your kids? Really play, with toys, on the floor, using your imagination?
i do get down on the floor and play with them but find that they rather play with their siblings more then me. or im always playing "it" wrong. guess that is why we had 3 in 3 years too:) i think this is how they are developing their imaginations and independence. if they need a little direction or ideas on how to play im right there, but mostly they rather have momma out of the way. and that is great with me:)
ReplyDeleteyour a great momma by the way!
Hmmmmm....now that I think about it, I don't think I ever sat on the floor and played. I do remember many..many together activities and fun times spent together. However, I had boys so there were no tea parties or dress up times.
ReplyDeleteI think you and your friend are very normal ;->
Janet xox
http://theemptynest-janet.blogspot.com/
I did with my oldest. She lived the first several years as the star of her own magical princess. She would follow me around the house and feed me lines "Now you say...". Since Cinderella spent so much time cleaning, we channeled her the most. We'd play Little People and stuff to. As the boys came along, we stopped and I've never played w/ them that way. Maybe b/c they are boys, maybe they aren't as bossy, or maybe they all prefer just to play together.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! I LOVE playing with my kids...from superhero vs Star Wars battles to pretend cooking/eating and building the best Lego tower creations ever. I think I will be sad when the time comes that they don't want me around to play with them, so I try to soak it all in while I can...if they'll have me in their make-believe world, I'm there!
ReplyDelete(To be noted: growing up, my Mom was the only grown-up in the neighborhood known to join in building snow forts with the kids...and all the kids loved that about her! It made her seem like less of a "grown-up" and more like a kid at heart, and it made me beam to know that she was MY mom, playful spirit and all. She's still the first one to put on her make-believe hat with my own children.)
When they were smaller, yes. As time went along and the more I tried to play with them, I just didn't seem to do it "right". I guess I was just too much of a grown up for them.
ReplyDeleteI try to do as many activities as they will allow me to do, but the oldest is 18 (soon to be 19...how it pains me to type that out) and my youngest is 11. She is not such a Mama's girl anymore :o(
Thanks for sharing Jennifer. I can't wait to see how everyone responds.
ReplyDeleteI did when my kids were really little, but now that they are 5 and 7, I don't anymore. We play board games and read together and do other activities, but I don't do much imaginative play with them. They would rather play that way with their friends than with me!
ReplyDeleteWe play some board games, but I'm not great at "playing" with them. Although I'll read them a ton of books and do fun art/learning activities with them.
ReplyDeleteI play with my kids when they're really little, but I try to get them into books asap because I'd much rather cuddle up with them to read. I take lots of walks with them and explore and try to have a lot of conversations.
ReplyDeleteI think all moms are different - what's important is that we are having as many quality interactions with our children that foster a deeper relationship. And we all will do that in our own individual way :)
I enjoyed reading the comments and agreed with what was echoed above. You and Jennifer are normal. And all moms (and dads for that matter) are different. But not necessarily in a bad way.
ReplyDeleteI did play on the floor with my daughter. For example, she got the biggest kick out of playing barbies with daddy.
But that doesn't mean that if you didn't, that you did any better or worse job at raising your child.
I try, I really do. Now I know why I thought my mom was such a dork when she would play barbies with me. Somewhere along the way, I lost my ability to imagine Barbie's life without making her do laundry or make dinner. BORING! :) However, I did like to play GEO Trax with my son..... sometimes I wouldn't even let him play for fear he would wreck the train track I had just made ~ maybe that's why he doesn't ask me to play anymore. Hmmm.... I'm pretty good at tea parties, I think. But maybe I should just stick to coloring :)
ReplyDeletePoor my girl! She was the only girl with three boys and she used to ask me to play Barbies with her all the time. When I could actually do so, eventually she would tell me I wasn't doing it right - I was dressing all the Barbie's and giving them things to do! ha ha! Apparently she had other ideas about what it meant to play. Wonder if she remembers that? Probably not specifically. But I bet she remembers always having me there - 100% her mom. (:
ReplyDeleteI used to but I now find that I get told I'm getting things wrong if I try to play with his toys with him. We can do play dough together, drawing, painting, go to the park etc but i just don't get the story right. My husband sometimes play with him when they are playing fighting soldiers etc.
ReplyDeleteI've always played with my son. Maybe because I only have one and stayed home with him for most of his life, it was easier for me? We played blocks, legos, monkey in the middle, hide and seek, slip and slides and other water games, made forts...and I've even been seen playing with his army men in the garden with him when I should have been weeding! HA! As he grows older, I find myself playing video games with him a bit, but most of the time we talk, read, or do art projects together.
ReplyDeleteYou're either a parent who plays...or a parent who doesn't. I don't think either is better than the other. It is who we are and both KINDS of parents make the impact they are supposed to make on their children. Parenthood is hard enough...take some time and get silly. ;) It's good for YOU too.
I've "play"ed with my younger son, because he likes that kind of imaginative play. We'd spend hours playing with his Thomas trains,etc. My older son, never enjoyed that type of play. He was always more interested in video games or general destruction.
ReplyDeleteI play with my son - we play football, have swordfights, play with cars and army men - he's the youngest of 5 - the older 4 are adults and have never lived with us and we live outside of town, so there aren't any other playmates. I've always taken him to the park and stuff like that so he can interact with his own age group, and he "plays" less and less as he gets older.
ReplyDelete