Parents and Play

“Mommy, will you play with me?”

This is a frequent request from my 4-year-old and unfortunately, the answer lately has been “no.” There’s a variety of reasons as to why, from being busy with work stuff, or house stuff, to just everyday fatigue.

Yes, I feel guilty and I do try, but it does not come easy. Which brings up the question, “After a certain age, do parents have to play with their child?”

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Child(ish) Reads: Growing an In-Sync Child

Since April was National #OTMonth, I wanted to switch gears from our usual parenting library. So for this edition of Child(ish) Reads, I bring you “Patti reads an OT book”.

I asked Mary for a few title recommendations on occupational therapy concepts that could help the everyday parent understand child development, and I landed on:

Growing an In-Sync Child: Simple, Fun Activities to Help Every Child Develop, Learn, and Grow
by Carol Kranowitz and Joye Newman

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CTFD, It’ll All Be Okay.

“Never before had I felt that I was doing so bad at something I longed to be good at.” –Michaeleen Doucleff, author of Hunt, Gather, Parent

Last time we checked, babies didn’t come with instructions. So, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and revert to a “worst-case scenario” mindset when anything and everything goes wrong.

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Hello from the Other Side

I can’t tell you how many times I heard “Wait until you have kids” in the first 7 years of my OT career.

I have a Bachelors in Health Science, a Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy, and countless hours of continuing education and certifications specializing in pediatrics. I am a child development professional. What does it mean, “wait until I have kids”?

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Child(ish) Reads: The 5 Love Languages of Children

I picked this book because The 5 Love Languages have solidly made their way into popular culture. And while you can’t really find out your child’s Myers-Briggs type or Enneagram until much much later, their primary love language does start showing signs early on.

As a parent, I will do anything to understand my kids better. And with most parenting books, I take them with a grain of salt and I can generally pick out an odd pearl or two of wisdom to pass along for my review. For this book, the pearls came from the first 6 chapters, discussing the love languages themselves. Unfortunately, this back half of this book was a bit of a letdown. I rarely say this, but you’re probably fine just reading this review instead of reading the entire book.

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