Do you PLAY with your kids?

[FarmerChick]

great idea Quail...sounds like fun times ahead for you guys!

I am not a play games person with Nicole. Rare. When I do "play" it is more artist and craft stuff. We paint, color, draw, play-doh and glitter and occasionally she makes brownies, cakes, etc.

I don't get on the floor and play doll house and pretend stuff.

I am super fortunate. She is ultra independent. She most times does projects and play on her own and is fine with it. I do step in a play a bit in between doing work and such...in summer, we swim....alot...LOL....so that is about it for me. No crawling on the ground for this old lady..HA HA

 

[roosmom]

QA I think it is wonderful that you are aware and want to make a change. That is half the battle. As long as you are aware.
I played (somewhat) with my kids. We played with tonka trucks. The Legos were great......we started with the big ones and then graduated to the little ones when they got bigger. The bad part about lego's, Have you ever stepped on a small lego in the middle of the night? We played out in the snow building snowmen, ice skating (on our homebuilt rink)snow forts. Not to many snowballs fights, you can see how that would end. We sometimes climbed trees, played slither in the tall ferns. We played scary monster, dont ask. My girls got dolls and trucks, my boys got trucks and stole the girls dolls, LOL.
When they got older, in the summer we spent lots of time at the lake. My parents had a boat so we knee boarded, water skied and tubed, We went fishing and camping. Winter time was icefishing and sledding and skating and snowmobiling. Then 4wheeling. My kids, they had access to snowmobiles and 4wheelers. We were constantly having to go start the 4wheeler or get the sled unstuck. Finally, I told them, "if you want to ride the 4wheeler then you need to start it". My oldest son, at 6 could start the 4wheeler. When they constantly got the snowmobile stuck because they didnt want to stay on the trail, they learned to work together to dig it out and get it going.
I think all parents have regrets, some big, some small. That is to be expected. I wish I would have spent more time hugging my kids instead of teaching them to be independent.
But when they get together, I dont hear them say, Gee mom how come you never played/spent time with us. I hear all about the things they did to each other, stuff I NEVER EVEN KNEW ABOUT, lol. I hear their memories of when mom did this or that to or with them.
My daughter forgot to call me back the other day so I called her. Hey, I said, dont you need to talk to your mommy? (the mommy thing is an inside joke) She laughed and said "didnt you raise me to NOT need you when I grew up? Yes, yes I did. That was my job. But it will always make me sad.
Now the granddaughter, her and I bake together. We have been doing this for 3-4 years, she is 8. This is our thing. I gave her her first under over on the swing, she still screams. We build the cemetery together.
Just remember QA, the best laid plans of mice and men. Go with the flow. LOL

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

LOL You all are giving me some good warnings of what's to come LOL

I shared my idea with my mom, and since she is homeschooling her two little ones still at home, she asked if she could borrow the idea. I said SURE! and we've decided that when we get together for our once a week school day with eachother her kids can bring their families with them...and we can pretend they are visiting from out of state and have the kids find that state on the map and we can have them learn about that state that day, fix up some special treats and the "families" can have a family dinner that day

As for my boys wanting to play war, be destructive, etc, I've thought about that, too. Sure, they can play war. We'll just make it a civil war or a world war and read about the whichever war we are having at the time

Now I know it won't all work out the way I want. There are going to be days they don't want to play and that's fine. On those days it will be back to the books and lessons on paper. I don't want them to get burned out on our play/interaction.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Oh and BTW, our first set of baby bears arrived today I haven't told the kiddos yet....lol haven't decided if I want to start this now or after Christmas?

 

[ParsonsWife]

I play with my children...often. I read to them, and with them, we sing, practice music, play outdoor games, ride bikes, skate, hopscotch (sidewalk chalk is WONDERFUL )and many other things...
Two items my boy and girl play with, regardless of sex, Lincoln logs and tinkertoys. They adore it when Dad takes time out to show off his inventive carpentry skills. Make time today for playtime with your children! It is relaxing...destressing...and wonderful.
Something else we do...we love games...I'm talking board type games...one of our favorites is Boggle. (Jr. Boggle) Pixle sticks, Bop it, Uno, Leaning Tower, and etc....
Don't forget Art time. I have a small table with roll of paper attached....we use that...and projects are wonderful...in fact...
I just framed one of my daughters...and put up my son's space ship...oh, sorry...Rocket ship. In fact, will add pictures....

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Those are WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!! Thank you for sharing the pictures with us!

I have framed pictures that my kids have drawn, too. And I have picture frames my kids painted. They LOOOVE art!

 

[me&thegals]

Ohhh--just what I needed! I always intend to do more play, less work. Now that winter is here, I start having much more time to play with my kids. Thank you for the reminder

I've done best at doing lots of reading, talking and board games with the kids. I have to admit I'm awful at playing dolls or house since I never did that growing up. I love to explore in the woods with them or build things from Lincoln Logs.

I think it's so important for parents to play with their kids. It's a great time to work on sportsmanship, sharing, playing nicely, a great time to hear about their life away from home (if they're in school). I agree with Pat that most of it should be child directed rather than "Here's What I've Decided We Are Going to Play."

Maybe because I have not been a mom who plays all the time with her kids, my kids are excellent at making their own fun. I continue to be proud and amazed at how much creativity they have in making games from seemingly nothing!

With winter coming, we will have a lot of family board games, xx-skiing vacation, lots of sledding, reading books by the fire, "exercise stations" in the basement (jumping rope, jumping jacks, sit-ups). Thank you for reminding us all of how important it is to spend time with our kids!

 

[roosmom]

ooooooh singing, I forgot about that. So important. I did that in the vehicle all the time with the kids. It was heartbreaking, my oldest cant carry a tune AT ALL. But she sure is confident enough to not care.....

 

[Cassandra]

Ummm yeah, we play. B (five year old boy) & I have thirty minutes in the morning and thirty minutes in the evening while i am driving. He keeps a Magnadoodle in the car and will devise different games for us to play on the way to and from work.

Sometimes we just play "guess" which is kinda like twenty questions. I'm thinking of something can you guess what it is. And we'll play "higher or lower" where one of us will think of a number and the other tries to guess what it is.

Then, he will have me call out the letters of a word. He writes down the letters on his doodle and then reads the word when I'm done. This is totally his idea and a game to him.

I don't do a whole lot of sit down play at home. Occasionally a board game or building with blocks. But he will play with ME while I'm doing stuff. I stayed home from work sick a couple of weeks ago and I let him sit down on the bed with a needle & thread and a piece of fabric to learn to sew. We also color together sometimes.

He helps me outside a lot. And sometimes our outside work evolves into zombie killing, which he totally directs. It only works near dusk, right? We slink around outside with our (stick) guns and he will tell me when a zombie is approaching so we can shoot it.

Zombies fly helicopters, too. One helicopter can apparently hold up to three zombies.

Cassandra

 

[ScottyG]

My baby's 8 months old. All she can DO is play, so we play! I'll be curious to see how she is down the road with all that stuff. I'd very much like to be a playing kind of dad, and I sure like to play games myself... but we shall see. In the meanwhile, it's easy to play with an 8-month-old. Example: cover your face... uncover it... repeat for 5 minutes... PRESTO!