Parents, it’s time to play

As a fellow parent, I understand how exhausting parenthood can be. That’s not to take away from the joy, the excitement and the overall amusement that our children guarantee us everyday.

But my goodness, is all of that mental, emotional and physical work tiring! And yet, we wouldn’t trade our role as a parent for the world!

But What about Trading Playtime?

Somewhere between recess at 3 years old and work meetings at 40 years young, the idea of playing became an afterthought for many parents. Sure, we play in spurts – we’ll draw a few pictures or play a quick game of chase around the cul de sac.

Father and child playing with toy music instruments

After a solid night’s sleep, we might even give a soccer game the old college try – Go Coogs! But watching your children do all the play can sound reeeeeally good after a long day, or really just “a day”.

Well, here’s my reminder to you..

YES we are tired, YES we want more sleep (or at least caffeine!) But right now, our kids want to play and THAT is in our contract as parents! So, it’s time to play!

Hey, Let’s Play!

If you’ve followed my work for a while, you’ve likely learned that I’m all about outdoor play.

Rain or shine, hot or cold, we dress for the weather and soak in some Vitamin D when we can:

Plan a seasonal nature hunts, finding goodies that represent the current, upcoming or even passing season!
Grab some sidewalk chalk and color
Use your imagination and make some recipes from nature. Tinkergarten has some great ideas here that my kids love!
Draw game boards with chalk like Hopscotch, Four Square or Twister
Do a quick and easy science experiment. Here are some of our favorite suggestions by teachers!

If outdoor activities aren’t an option, there’s still plenty of fun to have indoors:

Bring out the paint and get a little messy!
Have a dance party!
Yoga time – but let the kids decide on the moves
Make a scavenger hunt or play hide and seek – no hiding where the kids can’t find you!
Make instruments and start a band! Get creative!
Play pretend – dress up and get into character. The sillier the better!

Oh What Fun!

That’s the spirit! The list of things you can do during playtime is endless and while the memories may not last forever, the impact certainly will. Young children want to spend time with adults but really it’s the children at heart that they want at the party.

So take off your boss hat for just a while and embrace that young, wild and free spirit that still lives inside of you.

And if you play with them long enough, you just might get a tuckered out, tired kid to bed EARLY as a reward…

Just kidding, we all know that never happens, but it’s fun to dream!

Playtime is in session!

Kindest regards,

Camryn

P.S. Need more help remembering how to play? Have a read!