I love imaginary play
Its been about eight months since my friend Carrisa introduced me to Janet Lansbury and her blog about RIE parenting. I am so happy and thankful that she did and I absolutely love how much fun it is to have a toddler, and I really feel like so much of that is because of implementing some simple changes in our lives. Twice a month I get an email about a new blog post from Janet and they seem to come at the perfect times, either Griffin is being particularly challenging or I need something to keep up my attitude about parenting in general. Today, I opened up my email and had an email from her on imaginative play and I truly could not have come at a more perfect time.
In the last month or so Griffin has really started to use his imagination while he plays. Its absolutely wonderful. There are really no other words to better describe watching him make believe, giggle, laugh and bask in the accomplishment of inventing something. Totally awesome. For breakfast today I made him a cheesy scrambled egg, grapes and a yogurt drink. He had a bowl, fork and small plastic drink with an open top. We sat there, him in his high chair and me at the dinner table and ate and played for over an hour and a half. No hurry, just enjoying our meal and finding all kinds of ways to play with our food and bowls. First, he tried over and over again to spear the grape with his dull toddler fork, it was hard! He must have tried 10 different times, he asked for my help but I didn't give it because I knew he could do it himself. He did, and proceeded to eat his grapes this way until he got bored with it. Next, he took his grapes out of his bowl, and one by one put them in his empty yogurt drink bottle. He found this particularly funny for unknown reasons and then tried to drink them. More fits of giggles and some actual eating ensued until he realized that his eggs were all gone. What to do with the empty egg bowl? Pretend to dump water in the bowl and cook. "Mommy! I cookin!" he told me as he stirred his "water" in his bowl and offered me lots of tastes. He added the rest of his grapes to his meal and cooked some more until that got old. He then turned his bowl upside down and placed the paper towel I gave him over it and said "Sing happy birthday mom!". He was pretending his bowl was a cake, awesome! When I finished singing he "blew out" his candles and said "cut it up mommy!". So we cut up his cake and he fed me forkfuls of pretend cake. I asked him what it tasted like, he said "nummy chocolate!". This went on and on, and it just reaffirmed to me that he needs no toys, no entertainment, no bright lights or loud music, he just needs me to be there, be present and honor his attention.
Janet Lansbury wrote this awesome article on how to stop entertaining your toddler (here is the link http://www.janetlansbury.com/2013/05/stop-entertaining-your-toddler-in-3-steps-2/). One excerpt from this article reads like this:
Little-known fact: when we sit quietly and are passive, yet receptive and attentive to our children while they play, they feel just as nurtured by our companionship (if not more so) than they do when we are actively involved. It is a profoundly validating experience for children to be able to hold our interest without having to ask or work for it. Without a word of our praise, our appreciation is palpable.
I loved this, as I do most of her articles. For some reason her thought process speaks to me, it just makes sense to me because most of what she writes focuses on honoring your little one in respectful and loving ways. I feel like this approach lets Griffin be himself, it gives him the freedom to play without my intrusion, it gives him the ability to make his own decisions and feel true accomplishment. Sometimes its hard to parent this way, I think its actually easier to be the constant entertainer, but after seeing the delight and joy in Griff's face over so many "I did it" 's and his kind and caring attitude toward the world, I wouldn't do it any different. Its very freeing as a parent of a toddler to just let them be and accept them for emotional, inventive, wild, loving, playful and funny people they are. Griffin is slowly navigating this world, soaking it up and making it his own and its an absolute joy to watch!
In the last month or so Griffin has really started to use his imagination while he plays. Its absolutely wonderful. There are really no other words to better describe watching him make believe, giggle, laugh and bask in the accomplishment of inventing something. Totally awesome. For breakfast today I made him a cheesy scrambled egg, grapes and a yogurt drink. He had a bowl, fork and small plastic drink with an open top. We sat there, him in his high chair and me at the dinner table and ate and played for over an hour and a half. No hurry, just enjoying our meal and finding all kinds of ways to play with our food and bowls. First, he tried over and over again to spear the grape with his dull toddler fork, it was hard! He must have tried 10 different times, he asked for my help but I didn't give it because I knew he could do it himself. He did, and proceeded to eat his grapes this way until he got bored with it. Next, he took his grapes out of his bowl, and one by one put them in his empty yogurt drink bottle. He found this particularly funny for unknown reasons and then tried to drink them. More fits of giggles and some actual eating ensued until he realized that his eggs were all gone. What to do with the empty egg bowl? Pretend to dump water in the bowl and cook. "Mommy! I cookin!" he told me as he stirred his "water" in his bowl and offered me lots of tastes. He added the rest of his grapes to his meal and cooked some more until that got old. He then turned his bowl upside down and placed the paper towel I gave him over it and said "Sing happy birthday mom!". He was pretending his bowl was a cake, awesome! When I finished singing he "blew out" his candles and said "cut it up mommy!". So we cut up his cake and he fed me forkfuls of pretend cake. I asked him what it tasted like, he said "nummy chocolate!". This went on and on, and it just reaffirmed to me that he needs no toys, no entertainment, no bright lights or loud music, he just needs me to be there, be present and honor his attention.
Janet Lansbury wrote this awesome article on how to stop entertaining your toddler (here is the link http://www.janetlansbury.com/2013/05/stop-entertaining-your-toddler-in-3-steps-2/). One excerpt from this article reads like this:
Little-known fact: when we sit quietly and are passive, yet receptive and attentive to our children while they play, they feel just as nurtured by our companionship (if not more so) than they do when we are actively involved. It is a profoundly validating experience for children to be able to hold our interest without having to ask or work for it. Without a word of our praise, our appreciation is palpable.
I loved this, as I do most of her articles. For some reason her thought process speaks to me, it just makes sense to me because most of what she writes focuses on honoring your little one in respectful and loving ways. I feel like this approach lets Griffin be himself, it gives him the freedom to play without my intrusion, it gives him the ability to make his own decisions and feel true accomplishment. Sometimes its hard to parent this way, I think its actually easier to be the constant entertainer, but after seeing the delight and joy in Griff's face over so many "I did it" 's and his kind and caring attitude toward the world, I wouldn't do it any different. Its very freeing as a parent of a toddler to just let them be and accept them for emotional, inventive, wild, loving, playful and funny people they are. Griffin is slowly navigating this world, soaking it up and making it his own and its an absolute joy to watch!
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