Parenting For Humanity Blog

One of my favorite authors is Larry Cohen who wrote Playful Parenting. Over the years, using play in various ways has helped us get out of so many difficult situations.

At first it felt like a huge burden. Why did I have to play with my son to get his cooperation? But quickly it became a connecting activity that we both enjoyed, and at worst it was better than the alternative (battles that are ubiquitous at that age).

Parenting playfully became a way of life for us for many years. Somehow, though, we have fallen out of it. He’s too old for most of the games we used, and I’ve gotten lazy.

So for our radio show this week, I’m happy to share some of the tips we used. However, I need your help with ideas too. Especially if you have older children, how do you keep things fun? Any ideas? They don’t have to be elaborate. How do you get your kids laughing and vice versa? How do you keep things from getting “too serious”, or do you? What about when you were growing up – was there laughter in your house?

Here’s an article I wrote with some ideas: Make It Fun!

I still go back to my original philosophy often – we don’t have to create hardship in order to teach that hardship exists in life. Instead, let’s teach that even through hardship, we can make the best of it. Life is not a race to see who finishes first – so how can we add fun to the journey?

Please leave your thoughts here, or call them into the show. We’ll meet you online for a discussion of “Parenting Playfully” at 10 MST, Thursday, June 19th – http://www.blogtalkradio.com/parenting/2008/06/19/Playful-Parenting or call us at (646) 716-8259.

Lisa Stroyan

P.S.  To get the book mentioned above and to support our site, click here.