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Charlotte (has) Baby Brain's avatar

I don't mind imaginary play, so long as my children let me decide what my own character is going to do next, which they often don't. It quickly becomes a bit tedious when they're mapping out all the things my character is and isn't allowed to do...

I do a lot of building with my older two. We have a storage tower in our living room with four big boxes, each containing a different building toy (lego, duplo, magnatiles and sticklebricks.) Often, if the imaginative play with their figures is getting to the point I've described above, I'll suggest we build a house for the characters to live in or a play centre for them etc - the kids love it and we treat it as an extension of our game without me showing outright that I'm getting bored. Sometimes while they're busy having the figures talk to one another I'll just continue building whilst making enthusiastic statements now and then, which they're happy with

That was a long tangent I didn't know I was going to go on, but to shorten it - I do think play is important, but I think we need to find ways that make it bearable for us if the games they want us to play don't always come naturally. Something I have on my side also is having two boys that are only 19 months apart. We'll see how easily I can get out of it when the youngest reaches this stage

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Kaitlyn Elizabeth's avatar

So glad you wrote this nuanced, fleshed out piece. 🙏🏼🙏🏼

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