Pretend Play

Tristen got his kitchen yesterday. He was so excited he kept screaming and running around. He opened all the doors, pulled out all the utensils, plates and then sat there and looked at me as to say "Now what". I didn't even think about it but he had not "pretend played" yet. All of his toys make noise, move or roll. He looked for the noise buttons, tried to turn on the pretend faucet and tried to make a phone call on the pretend phone. He started to get frustrated so I sat down and "cooked" for him, drank out of the cups and put "dinner" in the oven. I did not realize I had to teach him how to "pretend play".

I started to think with all of these toys out there today are we helping or hurting children's growth and development. I wonder how many parents buy these toys to entertain their child so they do not have to. I will admit when I have to cook dinner or make lunch having those type of toys around is like having an extra set of hands but I do not rely on them to entertain my child all day.

Something I also noticed is on the toys and flash cards I recently purchased they have instructions for parents on how to play with their child with them. On the flash card the front has a picture of something and the back has a list of questions for the parents to ask their child. Is this really necessary? Do people not know how to play, entertain and educate their children. I get having ideas on things to do in the day because you can easily get into a rut but do people not know how to interact with their children any more.  To me it is common sense to count the butterflies, go over the shapes and colors  and talk about the object.

I think we often forget that everything is a learning opportunity to our children. Everything is new and exciting and we should relish in that instead of see it as a burden.