Gift 6- Give Your Child Playfulness

Gifts: Give Your Child Playfulness Fundamental to healthy relationships is play. Most kids from hard places don't play or haven't been able to play. Give your child the gift of play Now, we know from research that children who end up growing up and having serious problems are very often highly correlated with children who didn't get to play because they were in dangerous environments. So what we want to do is give our children ways to play. We might have to teach them to play. We're going to have to find a game they like. Find a physical activity they like. Invest in a basketball. Invest in hoops for the backyard. Invest in different kinds of games. An interesting thing about play is that we can actually bring down the chemistry of fear. And bring up the chemistry of healing in their brains by playing. We can also know that if a child learns to laugh and giggle they can't be so terrified anymore. Don't force play on a child, but lead them gently into play. Maybe set 2 or 3 times a day that you set a timer. And you say "let's play for 15 minutes, what do you want to play?" and you be the playmate. Become the favorite play thing. Become the one they seek out when they want to giggle and laugh and smile. With play we can disarm fear With play we can teach a child to trust. With play we can teach a child to be connected to us. With play we can even discipline a child. So if a child speaks mouthy to me and I say "whoa nelly, try that again." or "Hey are you asking or telling?" without ever breaking the stride of play. I've drawn that child back into relationship with me It might seem so simple, we overlook it. Play is absolutely fundamental to the healing and the connections your child will make in your family. For more information and resources, visit EmpoweredtoConnect.org