photo by BogusBrazilian
One of the things that I know I need to work on as a mom is the ability to play with my children. I know that it’s important, and I very much want my kids to look back on their childhood and remember their mom connecting with them. And I know that playing is an important way to connect to them- especially when they are young. My mother in law is a great example of this. Every time we take the kids over there, she literally gets so excited to be able to play with them. I mean, actually excited. It’s natural for her to play games with them or to do activities for hours on end. My kids LOVE to go over there and I can’t say that I blame them.
That being said, playing with my kids is hard for me. It’s not that I don’t like it– it’s that I don’t like it. I have a hard time sitting still long enough to play a board game and when I try to think of ways to interact with them, my mind just often draws a blank. This doesn’t come naturally to me. But sadly enough, summer is coming to an end for us. School literally begins at the end of August for us. I don’t have much time left to get in some summer play time.
The other night as we were on our way to sleep, I told Josh that I was feeling like I needed to play more with the kids, but didn’t know what to do. He offered me some suggestions and my mind started working. I decided on an idea- Hopscotch! Yesterday I bought some new sidewalk chalk (now is a great time to buy.. summer toys, etc are on sale/clearanced at a lot of stores. I bought some boxes of 52 for only $3 at Walmart… I bought some extra to take with us to the orphanage in DRC!) and today I am going to teach my kids how to play hopscotch. Hopscotch is a game that I used to play all the time when I was little, and I can’t believe that I’ve never taught it to my kids before!
Wish me luck! And if you have a hard time playing with your kids as well, you should put those dishes on hold for the day, and get out and play hopscotch with your kids too. If you would like to join me, but don’t know the RULES, click on that link. Go make some summer memories with your kids before it’s too late.
Playing is hard for me as well. I don’t have a very active imagination anymore, so I have a hard time playing dolls with my girls. And now I’m at a point in my pregnancy where it’s getting harder to be active, so things like hopscotch or teaching my oldest how to ride a bike seems like a little much. I read to them a lot though–that’s something we all enjoy and I can do it at any point in pregnancy!
Thanks so much for writing this! I also struggle with this, as there are so many other things that I should or could be doing, I find it hard to slow down. Then I look at them growing up so fast, and it saddens me to think that they won’t have memories of me playing with them. Mine are 3 and 1, a little too small for hopscotch, but I’ll think of something
Try a “double bubble bath.” Make a bubble bath, and then blow bubbles for the kids. Mine get really excited with this. And, there is no mess.