How to play with your child

We all know that playing with our children is one of the most important things we can do for their development, but how many of us actually make the time to do this often enough? It might not be easy all the time, but when you neglect to actually schedule some time for your children to play with toy cars or dolls etc, you will actually fill your time up with something else; as a nation we appear to have gotten ourselves in a terrible rush and made ourselves far too busy, sometimes too busy even for our own children.

Schedule activities

Ideally, no matter how busy you are, you should schedule some time each and every day to spend with your child. If you’re a parent who arrives home late from work unavoidably in the evening then this isn’t going to be easy. However you can compensate for this at the other end of the day. What you need to appreciate about your son or daughter is that they pay no real attention to what time of day it is, they’ll play all the time if you let them. So it doesn’t matter to them whether it’s first thing in the morning or not, they will appreciate some play time with their parents no matter what.

Depending on your other commitments and the amount of children you have, try to schedule a minimum of an hour each day with your child playing something they want to play with: toy cars, dolls, pretend cooking, drawing, or anything at all that interests them.

Get out the house

It doesn’t always have to be staying in the house doing jigsaw puzzles, playing with toy cars or watching movies with your child either. If you schedule some time then you should really be able to take them out to a park or just for a walk perhaps. This is an ideal way to do some real bonding and because you’re out and about it’s also a good break for you too. The schedule makes it regular and routine is something children appreciate a lot more than adults; your children will look forward to the time you plan to spend with them and they’ll begin to make their own plans about what to do and play.

A few minutes each day

Even a few minutes each day can be enormously rewarding for you and your child. If you simply can’t schedule time to spend with your children then you’re just going to have to keep your eyes open for opportunities. For example if you pass your child’s room and see them playing with toy cars, go in and play with them for a few minutes or at least ask them what they’re doing; this will make them feel enormously special, particularly if you’ve stopped doing something especially for them.

We were young once and we can probably remember spending quality time with our parents, so let’s make sure our own children can do the same in the future.