05/05/2020
Are your children struggling to play by themselves? This excellent articles by Dr Laura Markham explains how to help your child lose him/herself in play, without any help from you.
First paragraph copied below, because I think it’s so important.
Have you ever done any of these? I am definitely guilty of trying to get my children to play with toys in the ‘correct’ way, not realising I was sabotaging independent play!
“The baby mouths her rattle happily. Dad coos at her, takes the rattle and shakes it loudly so she can see how it works.
The two year old has a new classic toy: spools and a cord to string them on. He piles them into a column, then tries to drop the cord down through the holes. "Like this," says Mom, deftly threading the spools onto the cord.
The three year old turns the handle on the jack in the box so that it pops up. "Good job!" says Dad.
The four year old is painting, swirling all the colors together. "When you mix them all, everything turns brown and all the pretty colors go away," says Mom.
The five year old is constructing a marble run. "Why don't you make it higher at the start, so it goes for longer?" asks Dad. “
Read on in the link!
Dr. Laura....I have free play time on our schedule every morning after their schoolwork, just like you recommend. But when I tell my kids to go play, they beg for screens, they whine that they don't know what to do, they don't have any good toys, they need me to play with them. This is the only chan...
