How playful parenting helps with toddler development
Playing with your child is far more than just a form of entertainment to keep them occupied. You’re also teaching them valuable life skills.
What is playful parenting? Simply put, playful parenting is a parenting style that encourages parents to play with their children – to engage with your child in a more joyful and creative interaction. This form of parenting is encouraged for parents to foster close bonds with their children. It is quite tempting to allow children to play independently. But there are amazing benefits to playing with your child. Play is a powerful tool children use to navigate the world and to learn. We can also use that same tool to see the world through their eyes and learn as they do. Lawrence J. Cohen is a Play Therapist and author of the book Playful Parenting. The book opened a different realm of parenting for many parents and empowered them on how to best connect with their children.
How does playful parenting help parents raise successful children?
Self-esteem
Like adults, children also face challenges of confidence and self-esteem. Playful parenting can help children overcome this challenge. By simply allowing children to win, you can instil a sense of self-esteem. It’s not only about winning but also about your child engaging in play with a person that is older than them. That alone helps them develop confidence and self-esteem.
Overcoming shyness, anger, and fear
Children who play with their parents are happy, and they laugh, and laughing is always the best medicine. It can, therefore, help children release anger, anxiety, and any other painful emotions. Even in our adult lives, we still use laughter to help us navigate awkward and extremely painful situations. Children can learn the same.
Expressing Emotions
According to the Lego Foundation, “pretend play between a parent and a child is an ideal space to discuss feelings and practice reasoning”. Children cannot understand emotions and therefore struggle to express them. Therefore, playing with your child will help him express themselves better than they would under normal circumstances.
Fostering respect
Children respect adults because they are told to and because they are older than them. They particularly respect adults that crawl on the floor with them and get dirty. So, playful parenting fosters a culture of respect for their parents. Children that respect their parents are better equipped to do well in different aspects of their lives.
Learning social skills
The Lego Foundation notes that mutual exchanges and interactions during playtime between children and parents help children build neural connections. This helps with developing strong communication and social skills very early on in their lives. This means that children will pick up on different social cues and can use this even in their adult lives.
Feeling safe
Spending playful time with our children is a way of communicating to them that we enjoy spending time with them. This makes children feel wanted and loved. This is also a wonderful way of helping kids build confidence. A child that knows they are secure in their love with their parents can take on anything. Feeling wanted is not only a feeling adults yearn for. Children also want to be chased around the yard and be pursued. This makes them feel safe and wanted.
Kindness
Cohen emphasises that we need to fill our children’s cups with affection, security, and love. We cannot do this by standing on the sidelines and managing our children during playtime. If your child’s cup is overflowing, they are less likely to have behavioural issues. The love and affection children get from the person they look up to (mom or dad) plays a role in them becoming thoughtful and kind adults.
Cognitive skills
Children can learn cause-and-effect by playing with their parents, which is an important cognitive skill for them to learn. Children can learn what certain musical instruments can do or certain toys by observing their parents play with them. This builds their cognition, which can happen very early on in their lives if you participate in playtime.
Connection and re-connection
What better way to connect with your child than to descend to their level and see the world from their perspective? This means that you are genuinely and purposefully engaging in their world and learning about their world. This creates strong bonds between children and parents. This helps children develop their emotional and social skills. A healthy relationship with your parents forms an important foundation for children. This relationship lays the foundation for your child’s personality, life choices, and overall behaviour.
Empowerment
Playful parenting helps children make sense of the world with the guide of their parents. This can help empower children. This happens through creative and imaginative play. Even more so when they can do this with you.
