"Why Should I Play with my Kids?

I found an article titled "Why Should I Play with My Kids? by Mark Brandenburg MA, CPCC (check your pop-up window prevention settings before opening links). It begins:

"My son came running around the corner of the house. It was just as I had hoped. I gave a wild, primitive yell as I sprang out at him. He hit the ground quickly, trying to avoid my grasp. I reached down and tagged him easily, and the burden of being "it" was transferred once again.

"As I searched for a new hiding place in front of the house, my wife called from the front door. "Mark, it's eight o'clock, the kids have to come in!"

"I was a bit dumbfounded. We'd been playing tag for two hours.

"In those two hours, I'd been unaware of time. There were no worries about projects at work, what time the kids needed to go to bed, or whether we had enough money to last the month. My focus had been on playing tag, and nothing else. And when your focus is complete, you've entered a state that has no limitations. Your joy and passion can come alive, and your children's can, too."

...and concludes:

"Research has shown that kids laugh about one hundred times a day, and adults laugh about six times. Our kids are showing us something. Isn't it time we started learning how to be playful again?"

And the neat thing is, we know exactly where we can find the best teachers.

Human Toys

In my search for more "learning from children" connections, I found this article written by Sharon Barrey Grassick about playing with children who are deaf/blind.

She says: "Rather than manipulating a child's hands to teach him or her how to use a toy, offering ourselves as human toys and making our hands available for the child to control can achieve remarkable conversations (Miles & Riggio, 1999)."

She goes on to give a few illustrations:

1. "Instead of pushing a button to cause a toy to pop up, push against Dad's arm to make his arm pop up (in a specific and predictable pattern every time).
2. Instead of touching a switch to cause a light to go on, touch Mom's face and watch her eyes and mouth open wide, then shut again. (Brightly colored lipstick and eye shadow can help here.)
3. Instead of touching a toy to cause it to move, touch Mom's hand to make it move in a particular way. (Brightly colored nail polish may add interest.)"

I used to play like this with my kids, and still do with my grandchildren. A couple of my kids' favorites were: "guess the fingers" - they'd be sitting on my belly, leaning back against my knees and when they picked the correct combination of fingers, I'd straighten my legs and they'd fall back; and "remote control fork" - a feeding game where I pretended to be a remote controlled arm, and the kid, using thumb on my other hand as a joystick, would try to get me to put the food in her mouth.

Grassick concludes: "the most valuable activities are those that involve personal interaction...and the enjoyment of being connected with another human being."

Amen, sister. Amen.