After raising her two daughters and writing over a dozen books about family, Silvana Clark concluded that parents should not feel trapped when it comes to playing the games their kids want to play, the Associated Press reported.
Clark, who spent 10 years as a parks and recreation supervisor in Bellingham, Washington, suggests that today's parents are overworked, scrambling to drive places, making appointments and checking to see if homework is done. As a result, parents may not remember that play time with their kids is important, the AP reported.
"I'm totally shocked when I'll do a parenting seminar and I'll do something as simple as say, 'Why don't you play hide and seek in your house?' and people look as me and they'll go, 'What? I never thought of playing hid and seek in our house,'" Clark told the AP. "I'm not asking them to construct a model of the Eiffel Tower or anything."
Even if a parent does engage in any type of play their kids want, it won't be as enjoyable for the kids if the parents don't enjoy it too, developmental psychologist Rita Elchenstein told the AP.
"Your child will know how you are feeling, no matter how much you fake it, so it's best to create games and activities that you both find fun," she said.
Playtime between parents and kids does not have to be hours of running around or excruciating board games, Clark told the AP. Instead playtime can be something like journeying to a favorite store or watching TV together.
Clark and her family, who love the theater, once took an enormous piece of paper and drew a fake New York skyline. They taped it to the wall, taped a fake red carpet to the floor and got dressed up in honor of the Tony Awards, the AP reported.
"As long as kids have your full attention, it can be as simple as taking the dog for a walk together or getting a bird feeder and reading about how to attract birds," Clark told the AP.
