These days there are so many ways a child can be entertained. Most kids attend some type of organised weekly activity like dance, sport or similar. That’s great. The parents have a chat, the kids meet other similar aged kids, they learn about interaction and so on. But what about being entertained at home? My older daughter A likes to pretend play and the younger Z is a book worm. They do have organised activities as mentioned, but the hours between kinder and dinner are usually spent in one of the three ways; either following me around the house whilst I try to clean and get dinner ready (grrr) or asking if I can let them watch tv (grrr) or blissfully playing with each other (aagh).
Keeping things simple is a good start. We go on about children being happy to play with the box that their toys came in but how many of us just do that? I’m not saying go out to your local storage world & stock up on boxes, I’m just saying keeping it real and giving them room to make do. Letting them learn how to deal with being their own entertainer or friend is good for them and is nearly as important as them learning how to use your iphone. Ok it’s actually more important but I didn’t want to offend anyone J
Constant engagement with external stimuli can’t be good for such young minds; tv, xbox, ipad, iphones, ds, wii (are there any real words left anymore?)...how on Earth is all this benefiting them? Having these things, some of these things, not all, are ok – to a point. Having limits is responsible parenting but is also protecting them. Protection aside, you are doing them a favour by allowing them to find ways to just be.
Sometimes wanting to be a good parent allows us to fall into a trap of giving and giving. The only things that our kids need are attention from us, undivided - not falsely smiling at them whilst talking on the phone (which ok, I admit to have done), but a set time when they have your undivided attention and to feel love and your presence. This is always at bedtime for us when each child gets a parent and a book. We talk, we laugh, we drink milk and we read. Simple.
