Did you know that playing with your child is not only fun for the both of you, but it is also important for your child’s development? So make the most of your time together and play to your heart’s content. Remember how it was like when you were young and just ran around the park with your friends and neighbors? Recent studies show that the free-form, outdoor play you once enjoyed is now losing ground to computer games and other sedentary yet addictive toys and games. Sadly, too much structures play trains a child’s thought patterns instead of stimulating their skills in creativity and imagination. Basically, this lessens their initiative and freedom of choice.
A child playing is happily learning from the experience. Free-form play develops skills your child needs for life: 1. Running around builds gross motor skills 2. Stacking blocks works on their fine motor strength 3. Jigsaw puzzles develops their cognitive skills 4. Pretend play hones their creativity and imagination
Most importantly, this is also where they get to socialize with their peers and friends. Having playmates constantly with them teaches them negotiation, cooperation, and other necessary social skills. These are the valuable lessons that adults cannot easily teach and replicate. And while it is important for them to play with their peers, playing with you is even more invaluable. You are their first teacher and this is when you can impart family values and manners without any lectures as you take turns in, say, board games. You develop their self-esteem as you accept their version of the world when you play along the scenarios they have made up in their minds.
So, step up the fun quotient and encourage your child’s development through free play. To make this experience a more rewarding one, keep a box of ordinary things that they can play with such as clothes, plastic plates, and tea sets. Encourage outdoor play with no agenda in your mind so that you allow their imagination to run wild. Be a good example as well. Don’t park yourself in front of the TV. Instead, get moving and do active things together. Model appropriate behavior when you spend time with them. Say please and show them how it is like to take turns. At the same time, allow loosely supervised play. Let them explore on their own and build on what they have chosen. As the adult, it is your job to encourage them to go further with their ideas as the basis for the entire play.
Teach your child to be the leader and allow them to decide what they want. To do this, you just need to let them select what and how they want to play. The most important thing is that you are there. With your presence, you are already showing them how much you value their company and treasure the moments that you share together. But most importantly, letting them play the way they want helps them grow more confidently to a life of happily every afters.