Childs Play = Child Developement

Do you spend time playing with your chidren ?

I bought the newspaper on Saturday & was reading the West Weekend & came across a comment made by Mia Freedman about being deeply suspicious of people who play hide and seek with their kids.

I thought everyone played with their kids >
Isn't that part of the fun of being a parent ? Playing "BOO" when they are in their highchair or pram, Chasing as they learn to crawl , ball games from as soon as they can sit & roll it back to you.

Pushing them on a swing at the park.

Playing with your child is one of the most wonderful things about being a parent. Play is child's work. It's a vital part of the way babies and children grow and learn.

The time you spend just having fun together:

• provides a variety of learning opportunities
• helps children learn to trust and depend on their parents
• makes your child feel loved and secure, which helps her to develop
• helps children integrate ideas as they learn to make sense of the world
• helps you get to know each other and brings you closer

Good old hide and seek in side & outside.

Playing good old Snap & fish with a pack of cards .

Our children need us to play with them even when we sometimes might not feel like being a customer at their pretend shop or at their hairdressers.

It is part of life !

I wrote a letter to the paper about it as It really surprised me how people couid hate pushing their child on a swing or not play a board game with their kids.

The key is to really play with your children. Play with dolls, ball, make believe, checkers, sing songs, or whatever is fun and interesting. It doesn't matter what you play, just enjoy each other! Let kids see your silly side. Older kids enjoy cards, chess, computer games, while younger ones will have fun playing about anything...as long as it involves you!

Hide and seek

We used to play this a lot as the kids loved it ! one of the girls would count to 20 while the rest of us hid somewhere in the house .

I used to move once they had checked a spot to make the game last longer !

 My daughter had been given a bananas in Pyjamas toy & would cuddle it while watching the programme .

Every Tuesday for a while one of us would be the banana , the other the teddy & take turns chasing each other because as the song went " On Tuesdays bananas chased teddy bears ?

Sound silly to you ? ! That is ok because it made my daughter happy at the time as we laughed & played together.

Children love playing with their parents when in the water rather than just being watched all the time .

I used to play in the water with my girls & at the beach I would join in the boogie boarding with them & have a lot of fun.

As a nanny when I would take the children I was looking after for a swim & play games with them.

Other children that were there with their Mother (who would sit on the side with a coffee , all make up on , hair done while their kids longed for them to play with them)

would join in with us and have a great time !

Play chasing / ball games etc as a family & have fun !

If you have played all the usual fun games and are looking for something diferent there are plenty of kids online games that you can try.

Check games out first to make sure they are suitable for your childs age group.

Type in "for kids game " or free kids games , even be more specific and type in " games for 4y r  old " or whatever age your child is.

 Children do need to learn that there are times that we need to be doing other things so have to be able to play on their own.

However it is still good to take an interest in what they are doing & praise them when they are doing well .

If they are building blocks, colouring in or achieved a level on an online game it boosts their confidence to be told by Mum or Dad that they are doing well at what they are doing.

If you are having a busy day set out the rules at the start  of the game so they know what to expect.

 IE mummy is busy cooking so I can only play one game at the moment OK.

Don't let them win every game on purpose as  It doesn't help them when they start to play with other children and they can't handle losing as they are not used to it.

Let them know it is ok to lose occasionally . That is part of playing games and doesn't hurt them !

Try new games to test all your skills out in board games , card games  !

Try not to show it when you really don't feel like playing  with them as it means the world to them to spend time with them have you join in playing  a game.