Lately, I am realizing how a finished basement will be nice for our children. Right now when Charley has a playdate they play right under my feet. This can be a good thing and a bad thing...
I love that I can hear and see what they are doing. Listening to four year olds interact is very entertaining...but listening to them disagree or argue at my feet...it is really hard not to step in. I try really hard not to. So a basement would give them the space so that mama isn't stepping in. Lately, we have had some new playdates that are reoccurring. Charley goes there one week...they come here the next. I think this will be so nice this winter when it is cold and we are trying to avoid the indoor play/germ areas.
I don't know if it is that Mr. C is turning 5 soon or if it is the influence of these playdates but there are some neat things occurring because of some new friend time. From some of his playdates he is being inspired...
From Miss Elly - is inspired to imagine and play make believe whether it is house, spy camp, or other stuff.
From our neighbor girls- he preforms dog shows and plays with his stuffed animals -which I love because you collect these stuffed things and then they just sit.
From Mr. Hayden- Charley now pulls out his building toys (tinker toys, lincoln logs, blocks, legos) and builds for 30 minute chunks of time - all by himself!
From Mr. Talon - he is seeing that you can take your time to color and use many colors.
It is really fun to watch your child play with other children. You see their personality, how they problem solve, their tendencies with those he knows well and those that are strangers, and his confidence in what he knows and believes. Playdates are such a gift. And some people might shy away from having another child come over to their house, but really - the truth - I get so much done when there is another child here. Charley is happy and I can see and hear his happiness. And the toy mess that they make - totally worth it (if you don't feel like having clean up breaks from time to time).
Monday, October 12, 2009
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3 comments:
Mom gave me a book for xmas last year about children and play. It's sort of a history book about how children entertained themselves form the revolutionary war to the present (especially through the introduction of Toy Culture, which didn't always exist). It's fascinating, and the primary message that is reinforced at every stage is this: kids will do whatever they want with whatever you give them; they'll always create their own worlds.
Now, I already know that you do this wonderfully, and I love that Charley is learning from others. Seriously, that's so cool to see. It's more a plug for the finished basement where that play can be even more unstructured.
Just think of all those hours we spent playing in Grandma and Granpa's "finished" basement.
Fun post.
Good thoughts. I remember you getting that book. Everytime a child comes over to play they ask about our basement and Charley informs them it is full of spiders! Ha! That is what we started telling him because we didn't want to go down there to play. It is biting us in the butt now. Maybe this winter we can work on finishing that one half of it.
We love our finished basement. It will grow with the kids to become a place for them to hang out with friends as they get older too.
Love the different things that have come out of playdates that you listed. I love to see what toys Charley pulls out to play with at our house. Both of them are so vocal about what to do with the toys, they each feed ideas off each other.
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