Playing is hard for me. It always has been.<\/p>\n
A few months ago, my niece asked me to play dolls with her. As the mother of two car-loving boys, I had no idea how to play with dolls. I\u2019ve finally figured out how to play with cars, dinosaurs, trains and superheroes. But dolls? I don\u2019t even know what to do with them.<\/p>\n
I remember feeling this way when my boys were first born. I felt awkward playing. I sat on the floor and vroomed a car around for a few minutes, but then what?<\/p>\n
I wanted to talk to other moms about this, but I felt like admitting it made me a terrible mom. What kind of mom doesn\u2019t know how to play with her kids, after all?<\/p>\n
But then, a few weeks ago, I was chatting with a new mom who recently adopted three kids, and she bravely admitted the same thing, that she too struggles to play with her children.<\/p>\n
It turns out there are a lot of us who struggle to play, but here are a few things that might help us.<\/p>\n
I love reading to my kids, but I\u2019m not a big fan of free play. I just don\u2019t know what to do with it. I can drive a car around for a few seconds but then I wonder, \u201cWhat now? Do I just keep driving it in circles? What am I supposed to do next?\u201d I\u2019m terrible at playing house or school or making up story lines for the cars we\u2019re driving. Instead, I like organized fun. I like puzzles and board games and books. I like going down water slides. I like playing Hide and Seek. I like games that have at least some semblance of order.<\/p>\n
For too long, I\u2019ve felt guilty for not enjoying certain types of play. And because of that guilt, I\u2019ve missed out.<\/p>\n
remember when my boys were babies thinking I needed to do <\/em>something with them. They would just lie there with their rattle or small toy, and I felt like I was doing something wrong. I wasn\u2019t playing with them or teaching them. What I know now is that they were learning. I should have just followed their lead and relaxed a little. Sure, our kids might need a little help getting started, but once they get going kids are typically pretty creative. Let them handle the story lines as you participate.<\/p>\n Playing with children doesn\u2019t have to be hard, but for some reason, I get it in my head that there\u2019s a certain way I\u2019m supposed to be doing it.\u00a0Then I question my abilities as a mom and wonder if I\u2019m doing it right. The truth is, my kids want me<\/em> more than anything else.\u00a0They don\u2019t care if my storylines are a bit awkward. They don\u2019t care if I\u2019m not very creative. They care about me.<\/p>\nDon\u2019t make it so hard.<\/h3>\n