Let your child play alone
Some parents make the mistake of thinking that their child's every waking hour has to be filled with interesting diversions and stimulating activities. This is wrong and can even be harmful.
© Jupiter
One of the most important lessons that your child has to learn, and will learn quite willingly if left to her own devices, is that she can be the source of her own entertainment. Very often a child wishes to be left to play by herself, to make her own decisions about what to play with and for how long. Let your child follow through little tasks that she has set herself, alone. If she can't do them she will ask for your help; if she doesn't, don't interfere. Interfering, interrupting or introducing a new activity will do the opposite of making her life more entertaining. It will make it boring because she'll never have the opportunity of seeing the activity through to the end. She will miss out on the sense of achievement that every child needs.
Another common mistake is to believe that children need to play with toys. Many of the most popular play activities don't involve toys at all. They may involve physical activities like swimming, climbing or running, playing with a bat and ball, building a camp out of twigs and leaves, just carrying water to the sandpit and filling the moat, collecting pebbles or shells. Give your child the scope and the autonomy to do all of these things. If you don't encourage private activities, your child will have a very uncomfortable sense of withdrawal or even deprivation when she is forced to entertain herself if you are absent, and this may lead her into mischief, delinquent behaviour or, even worse, danger. So you should be pleased if your child shows signs of self-sufficiency and being able to do without you and to entertain herself while excluding you.
Coping with mess
Leaving your child alone, however, will mean that you'll have to either ignore a mess or anticipate one. If she's playing water games, cover the kitchen floor with newspaper or old towels that will soak up the water. If she's painting, cover the carpet with a sheet of polythene. If she's playing with mud or clay, cover your child's clothes with an apron and ignore the mess on her face and on her hair; it can all be washed off at the end anyway.
New Babycare
Copyright © 2009 Dorling Kindersley
Text copyright © 2009 Miriam Stoppard
Posted 30.06.2010
Get more on this subject…
