This is our second post for Build ‘Em Up and today’s topic is “The Joy of Playing With Your Kids.” So link up, visit each other’s posts, and visit Kelly, Courtney, and Jennifer today!
I think this is one of my favorite things about being a mom. I absolutely love playing with my kids.
But sometimes the day gets in the way. The to-do list. The laundry, the cleaning, the dogs needing to be fed or walked, and dinner needs to be cooked. The phone is ringing, texts are coming in, emails need to be answered.
And there’s my sweet little Hudson, saying, “Mommy, can you play with me?”
Sometimes just the little request from a sweet little voice is all I need to drop whatever I’m doing in that moment and forget everything except what he and his brother want me to do. For a little while. Ha!
Life is distracting. I wish we could all be completely devoted to our children with no other responsibilities or distractions, but it’s just not that way.
So, now I try to carve out little chunks of time to play with them. Sometimes individually, but most of the time together. I may have to referee them to get them back on track.
In my early years as a mother, I played so much with Hudson. It was just the two of us. We were constantly reading, singing songs, working puzzles, and learning. I was teaching him and he’d soak it all up like a sponge. He’d repeat every single thing I said to him.
Sure, we had our fair share of distractions, and I didn’t spend the entire day playing with him, but we had a lot of uninterrupted time together.
After Hayes was born, I spent a lot of time feeling bad that I couldn’t give Hudson my undivided attention, and as Hayes got older, I felt bad that I couldn’t give him the kind of undivided attention that Hudson had at his age. They weren’t yet playing with the same things and there was still the housework and the emails and the dogs.
But as they’ve gotten older, and Hayes has gotten closer to Hudson’s age, we’re back at the point where we just play together. We play hard! We wrestle, and chase, and run, and play with balls.
We build castles, forts, and race tracks. We construct barns and zoos and all of the animals come over to play.
My little boys aren’t real big into make believe. (Thank goodness, because I’m not very good at make believe.) Everything is pretty much black and white with them. And they play hard!
Since moving into Nana’s house, a lot of those household duties aren’t here for me. It’s not my home. We help with the upkeep of the home, of course, but there’s not constantly stuff to tend to.
And I consider this a major blessing for one simple reason. It’s given me so much more time to play with my kids.
We love to be outside learning how to play soccer. We ride bikes. And sometimes I just sit on the floor with them while they watch a movie. I love this little age, and I love to play with them. It keeps me young. It keeps me in tune with what they like to do. What they’re saying and what they’re learning.
I also really appreciate their independence, and that they can and will play without me. Sometimes they just need a little dose of mommy. They need a lap to sit in, or someone to help them build the race track so they can push the car down the track. They need a little bit of redirection to stop fighting and start playing again.
But what is better than a sweet little request from your little boy? “Mommy, will you please play with me?”
Of course I will!
‘);
// ]]>
