For the month of September, I am using prompts from a project called 30 Days Hath September. Each day has a prompt for something to capture, something to collect, and something to record. The prompts are for a scrapbook album, but I thought they'd be wonderful blogging prompts as well. I am selecting one of the three prompts to write about each day.
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This was such a great prompt because it forced me to watch my children closely as they played. It really is magical to watch children play freely. Last night Zoe and Eva brought handfuls of toys to the dinner table and alternated between taking bites of food and holding conversations with their dolls.
As my kids grow older, I see changes in the way they play, and I know that this is one of the things about having young children that I will truly miss. Nicky has reached an age where some of his friends and peers no longer want to "play," but Nicky is still quite playful. On Labor Day, he spent most of the day playing with garbage outside. I was a little annoyed as he filled milk jug after milk jug with water and smashed them on the driveway, but I took a deep breath and a big step back and reminded myself that A) he was using his brain, B) he was outside, and C) he was staying busy.
In primary on Sunday, we sang a few round of "If You're Happy." I would ask the kids what they like to do when they're happy, and then we would do actions and sing the song. In senior primary (ages 8-11), we ended up singing one round of "If you're happy and you know it, sit and do nothing" and one round of "If you're happy and you know it, lay down." We had a good laugh about it, but it was also disconcerting. It's a well-known fact that play has declined in modern society. This is heart-breaking, and unbelievable in some ways, but I see it all around me - even in my own home. My kids love to play (though a lot of the time their play consists of "Lets pretend we're on YouTube"), but I have one child who struggles to come up with ways to play and be imaginative. I have to prompt her with ideas, and she's never interested.
Despite the messes and the chaos that play can bring, I know how significant play is to my children's development. I need to make sure I'm not stifling my children's opportunities to play - after all, it's going to go away soon enough.
As my kids grow older, I see changes in the way they play, and I know that this is one of the things about having young children that I will truly miss. Nicky has reached an age where some of his friends and peers no longer want to "play," but Nicky is still quite playful. On Labor Day, he spent most of the day playing with garbage outside. I was a little annoyed as he filled milk jug after milk jug with water and smashed them on the driveway, but I took a deep breath and a big step back and reminded myself that A) he was using his brain, B) he was outside, and C) he was staying busy.
In primary on Sunday, we sang a few round of "If You're Happy." I would ask the kids what they like to do when they're happy, and then we would do actions and sing the song. In senior primary (ages 8-11), we ended up singing one round of "If you're happy and you know it, sit and do nothing" and one round of "If you're happy and you know it, lay down." We had a good laugh about it, but it was also disconcerting. It's a well-known fact that play has declined in modern society. This is heart-breaking, and unbelievable in some ways, but I see it all around me - even in my own home. My kids love to play (though a lot of the time their play consists of "Lets pretend we're on YouTube"), but I have one child who struggles to come up with ways to play and be imaginative. I have to prompt her with ideas, and she's never interested.
Despite the messes and the chaos that play can bring, I know how significant play is to my children's development. I need to make sure I'm not stifling my children's opportunities to play - after all, it's going to go away soon enough.
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