They only needed pen and paper in order to get started yesterday. Somehow, making lists turned into drawing pictures of fire, and drawing fire turned into a game of Fire Chief for the next hour. Two little boys ran around the house, putting out \u201cforest fires\u201d in the living room, the bedroom and Mama and Daddy\u2019s room alike.<\/p>\n
As I watched my children, ages 2 and 4, enter into this world of imagination and play, I almost did a little skip in the air: They\u2019re playing without me!<\/em><\/p>\n They don\u2019t need me to sit in on playtime quite so much anymore, even though I more-than enjoy watching their creative juices flow. Although I loved them as babies, I love <\/em>who they\u2019re becoming \u2013 little boys who thrive on play, on creating imaginative worlds all their own. And it makes me want to do everything I can to encourage this critical element of childhood for them.<\/p>\n The American Academy of Pediatricians<\/a> agrees. In a 2007 report, play promotes healthy development, and even helps maintain strong parent-child bonds: \u201cPlay allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive and emotional strength.\u201d Isn\u2019t this the desire of every parent?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s invite our children to just be kids and play \u00ad<\/em>\u2013 and, in case you need a couple of ideas, here are five things that have worked for my boys:<\/p>\n Oftentimes, if my preschooler is hanging on me like a barnacle in water, I know it\u2019s time to give his imagination a kick-start. Sometimes, jumping into a short physical activity can be just what kids need to take it to the next level of creative play. So, have a dance party. Play Robot Mama, \u201cWith. All. Her. Little. Robot. Minions. R2D2! C3PO!\u201d Lie down on the floor and see what happens when your child is allowed to climb on top of you for a few minutes. Read a book out loud \u2013 and then dare him or her to act out the characters they just heard read to them.<\/p>\n Just like we need a dedicated space to cook a meal, children need a special place that fosters creativity<\/a>. Is there a shelf in your little girl\u2019s closet that can house dress-up clothes? Can you create a creativity corner, complete with crayons and markers, scissors, glue and paper for your young son? Even if you\u2019re in a small apartment space, children can decorate a special imagination box; then, you can encourage creativity every time you pull out the box.<\/p>\n In today\u2019s fast-paced world, it\u2019s so easy for us to run our children from one activity to the next. But in doing so, we miss out on the elemental nature of just playing<\/em>. Start by taking a breather. See if getting rid of one activity a week makes room for more imagination. Schedule in free play, if that\u2019s what it takes, and by all means, let your kids be bored! They\u2019ll find something to do \u2013 they always <\/em>do (and chances are, it\u2019ll be creative).<\/p>\n Perhaps this falls into the \u201cconventional\u201d category of ways to encourage play, but we still need to take note. It\u2019s easy for me to want to pop on another episode of Sesame Street <\/em>when I need to get work done or feel exhausted by motherhood. But studies have shown that too much screen time<\/a> can lead to childhood obesity, aggression and problems in school, to name a few. Let\u2019s do our children a favor and limit their time in front of television and electronic devices alike so their creativity can soar.<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m a firm believer that too much time inside <\/em>is not good for the soul. So, when things feel a little too unruly in the living room, we head outside \u2013 and being outdoors never seems to disappoint. Go to the park. Plant a garden (or simply see what happens with a shovel and some dirt). Head to the front yard with a bucket of chalk, and invite your neighbors to join in the fun. Ride a bike or a scooter. Then, when your children have successfully begun using their imaginations, sit down with your book and enjoy the fresh air.<\/p>\n Even if it takes a bit of unconventional prompting, we can give our child the chance to play without rules and guidelines. When creativity and imagination become their muse, we parents are freed up to be the most creative and imaginative versions of ourselves, too. And I don\u2019t know about you, but I\u2019m all for that happening!<\/p>\n Cara Meredith is a writer and speaker from the San Francisco Bay Area. Co-host of the Shalom Book Club podcast and a member of the Redbud Writers Guild, she is passionate about racial justice and reconciliation, the great outdoors and dinner around the table with people she loves. She holds a Masters of Theology (Fuller Seminary), and can be found on her\u00a0<\/em>blog<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/em>Twitte<\/em><\/a>r.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" They only needed pen and paper in order to get started yesterday. Somehow, making lists turned into drawing pictures of fire, and drawing fire turned into a game of Fire Chief for the next hour. Two little boys ran around the house, putting out \u201cforest fires\u201d in the living room, the bedroom and Mama and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":192,"featured_media":3807,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,42],"tags":[371,498,501,502,109,492],"class_list":["post-3806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fun","category-lifestyle","tag-creativity","tag-free-play","tag-get-outside","tag-imagination","tag-play","tag-screen-time"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3806\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Help them get started.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Give them a space all their own.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Make time for free play.<\/h3>\n
Limit screen time.<\/h3>\n
Get outside.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n