Question 1: How much time a day do you play with your kid(s)? Because Becca begs me ALL. DAY. LONG. to play with her. Some days I do and some days I don't. And on the days that I don't I feel really guilty. And when I do play with her, I usually get bored with it after just a few minutes. We do well coloring or doing art projects together, but not so much with playing. I am just curious what you guys are doing. She doesn't have a sibling old enough to play with her.....I can't wait until they can entertain each other instead of both of them needing me to entertain them!
Question 2: Do you limit the number of toys in your house? Would you get rid of the Mr. Potato Head set that never gets played with? Because what if Andrew would play with it some day? It seems that all our toys are tiny little pieces of things that get scattered all over the damn place. Cleaning up is much harder than just dumping stuff in a toy box. The animals all go with this set. The toy food goes with the kitchen. And the princess stick-on clothes all go with this set. The tiny Ponyville stuff all goes together, etc. If I just dumped all that crap in one container, no one would ever play with it, except to dump it out on the floor. What do you do?
Aging is for the weak, and everyone else
2 months ago
12 comments:
1. I play with the kids as little as I can get away with. I am good with Child Maintenance (feeding, trimming, bathing, dressing, buying things they need), but not with playing.
2. I get rid of toys but I admit I keep the ones _I_ like. Like, no one ever plays with our Mr. Potato Head either, but I keep him (and the Mrs.) anyway because I like that toy. But I gleefully grab any excuse to get rid of the toys I don't like.
1) Same as Swistle. Does taking them to swimming lessons and playgroups count as playing w/them? Also, I'm good at throwing one on my back to quiet her and keep an "eye" on her- would that count??
2) DH and I have been discussing this same issue. For us, the girls are interested in Playdough, coloring, cutting paper, scotch taping the things they cut, playing with dolls (so all things doll related), a little bit of dress-up, books, home videos and an occasional Dora or Rucca show (English version: Caillou). EVERYTHING else (including puzzles - which I HATE HATE HATE) could be thrown out and they wouldn't miss it. So, potato head is, probably, on it's way out (next garage sale?!).
I hate toys w/small and/or lots of pieces. I use the word "hate" lightly. Mostly it's b/c I do NOT organize or keep track of random pieces and, therefore, do not think such things belong in my house (b/c I get stressed trying to keep that kind of stuff together). Pathetic, I know. But, I've even started buy less clothes b/c I hate to do laundry.
1. One-on-one play has gotten harder for me since I've gotten pregnant, and I think it'll continue to be tough once there's an infant in the house. Although, Zach's form of play often involves hockey sticks and tackling... a little different than girls, I'm sure.
2. As much as possible, I REQUIRE that playing with a toy also means cleaning it up and putting it away when he's done. I usually have to help, but he's getting better as time goes on. This makes those play sets with little bits more tolerable. I also put some of his toys away and cycled them to make them fun again. It actually works.
1) Its so nice to hear other's comments about playing with kids. Im not good at it because I get bored quickly. I really enjoy having Nathan in the kitchen...cooking, baking, decorating cookies etc. thats kind of our "thing". But Im not the kind of mom who can sit and play Little People for hours.
2 )Baskets from the 100Y store on shelves-one for cars, Little People, airplanes etc. Lots of baskets. Its easier to have one thing out at a time and easier for him to clean up. I also struggle with what to save (we too have an unused potato head) too. The baby stuff Ive saved but Im guessing after that that for the most part what my son loved isn't going to be the same as my daughter.
These are two things about parenting that I probably stress out about most. I hate to admit it, but I do not really enjoy playing with little kids! The art stuff is fun, but the playing: ugh. So I am with Swistle on that.
And the toys. They. Are. Everywhere. It is impossible, and I get so annoyed. I will be checking back on this post for weeks to see what everyone comes up with.
What I have done: I have lots of baskets, which are labeled. Barbie, Mr. Potato Head, chef clothes, princess clothes, little people, balls, etc. all have their own box/basket. I find this particularly helpful when others are here and are trying to help clean up. Then they know where things go. The problem, of course, is that the girls don't really care that much if things make it back into the correct places. So it's pretty much a mess a lot of the time. Also, I try to pick out all the McD's toys, and other small items that are annoying or useless and throw them away. Other than that, I keep the stuff I think the younger ones will want to play with someday, because I am cheap and I don't want to buy them again.
great questions. GREAT. my 4 year old begs me many times to play with her, she will just sit by me and do nothing ...but my younger one will entertain herself
as for toys - i have a hard time throwing things away BUT i need to organize my playroom...it is so messy my girls beg me to help them find stuff..it is a diaster. i need to cleanit.
1. My kids are much older so I don't have an answer other than I did daycare so they had playmates.
2. I had a closet ONLY for toys with lots of shelves. I bought tons of small containers and organized it. I put a hook lock on the outside at the top. When they wanted to play with somthing only one thing came out. When they wanted somthing else it had to be cleaned back up and put in box before I unlocked the closet to get the next container of toys. Saved me an unbelievable amount of time on clean up and I never had to worry about seperating toys again.
You people who only let your child play with one thing at a time and then make sure it gets put away are AMAZING parents! How do you pull that off? If I'm cooking or on the phone or something, I cannot keep track what is being played w/and what is not.
I do have an Ikea storage wall center/bins, and love it. Every month or two (or three), I go through all the bins and reorganize. We keep it organized for a while and then things, eventually, get disorganized in the bins again and I'm forced to go through and reorganize. I should do it once a week, I don't.
1. I try to play, but probably don't do it enough. I don't mind watching movies or coloring, but I can only get on the floor to play with Polly Pockets for a few minutes at a time.
2. I try to get rid of toys, but I'm not consistent with it. This year I think she's old enough to go through her things and decided what she doesn't want anymore. I told her that before Christmas she has to give her unwanted toys to charity. She's gotten really into this idea.
1. I don't play with my kids hardly at all. If I do, it's not with toys, it's more along the lines of "put mommy to sleep" where all I have to do is lounge on the sofa and get tucked in. My kids don't ask to be played with, but having twins first, they always had a built in playmate. I do read to the kids, however.
2. We keep all of our toys very organized. We have never had a toy box- we have toy shelves, and all the pieces for each toy stay together. We have one basket for odd stuff that doesn't "go" with anything else. I get lazy about cleaning up and things don't get ALWAYS get put away "properly", and then every so often I have to go on a toy purge- throwing things (like mcd's toys and random trinkets) and getting all the pieces back in their proper home.
I also keep toys that I like and get rid of toys that I don't, especially if they are not played with. We have a finished attic, so we rotate stuff through there too- sometimes if something isn't getting played with, putting it away for a few months makes it interesting again.
Oh, yeah, I do what Marie Green does. I let the kids play w/my hair and put me to sleep. I will color, (on occasion), cook (on occasion) and read to them. I'm good at telling the girls when their dolls are crying, need to be fed, changed, rocked, or worn (Liv and Lila have doll slings and Ergos). They usually run and take care of the dolls when I tell them to.
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