What kind of parents are you?
Are you primarily occupied with entertaining your children, are you the initiators of everything, the main organizers of activities, or do you let your children have fun on their own, i.e. create their own free time?
In this crazy modern age, it’s not uncommon for children to have at least one, if not two, extracurricular obligations in addition to kindergarten.
They go to gymnastics, sports, English, some children play music, and so on.
Parents pay for all this because they’re investing in their child’s further development and education.
Why not, when all the other children in the group are already doing several activities?
Or, the eldest is leaving, so why shouldn’t the youngest already enter the world of good obligations?
And if they don’t already go to two different activities, then at least once a week they go to the playrooms so the child can “practice” jumping.
Now you’re wondering what this has to do with the title?
Dear parents, you should know that each additional obligation represents a joy, but also a great stress – both for you and for the child.
If you’re one of those people who’s willing to give your child a ton of quality training, don’t you feel like you’re running around all the time?
Eat fast, you’ve got to go to ballet, you’re going to train today because we’re paying for it, there’s no giving up!
Stress is in fact just one of the negative consequences of this kind of super-involved upbringing.
But parents ignore all these stressful obligations (not to mention the amount of money involved), because there’s nothing they won’t do to ensure a golden life for their child.
And in fact, they feel superior to parents who impose no similar obligations on their children.
Look at them, they don’t care about their children’s future!
They’re so lazy that they let children invent their own pleasures.
Clearly, today’s children don’t even know how to play.
You have to let your child develop his own games, enrich his imagination, become autonomous and capable of inventing new games.
In the end, they’ll be happier than children whose parents organize every minute of their free time!
In the future, these children will be more independent and certainly more capable, as they learn about life by learning and taking care of themselves.
Modern children are not born with the genetic code omitted for independent play.
We’ve simply turned them into robots who wait obediently for a sign that mom or dad is going to suggest a game.
Courageous, idle parents…
In fact, modern parents do everything for their children, and think they’re only doing them good if they’re constantly entertaining them, organizing games for them, fulfilling their every wish.
When they don’t have time to take care of themselves, they buy a host of gadgets, cartoons and other technical aids to keep them entertained (starting with baby laptops, tablets…).
As a result, from a very early age, children become absolutely incapable not only of taking care of themselves, but also their imagination no longer functions as it should.
Indeed, they are constantly waiting for stimulation from their parents, who think for them.
Modern children therefore never learn to play, despite the fact that their genetic code includes a sense of play and carefree pranks.
Yet this is what makes children so different from us adults.
And don’t think it’s easy (or bad) to be an inactive parent.
No….
That doesn’t mean you let your child do what he wants!
Contradictory as it may seem.
An inactive parent is actually a very responsible parent who, by not participating in the children’s entertainment, actually encourages the child to believe that he can do it all by himself!
Even later in life, these children will try things out for themselves first, and only if they get stuck will they ask their parents for a little help.
So, if you think you’re a very responsible parent because you take your children from facility to facility all day long, where they have quality, organized entertainment, and in the house all the technical equipment paid for by thousands and thousands of euros, stop and think again.
You’re not responsible, because your child is probably not happy!
How can you repair the damage already done?
If you recognize yourself in your “irresponsible” behavior, you should know that you can change your habits.
Children quickly get used to anything that’s “imposed” on them, whether it’s good or bad.
If, at the beginning of the school year, you have enrolled your child in some of the activities outside nursery or school, talk to the child about it and see if it makes him happy, if he is satisfied, if he likes it or not.
If the child is very happy and can’t wait for a new ballet, English, piano or soccer lesson, that’s fine!
However, make sure that the time spent on these activities doesn’t exceed the time that should be free time for play, i.e. developing imagination and creativity.
Dose your gadgets!
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where, for whatever reason (punishment), you banned cartoons and games for a certain day?
Do you remember that intense anger that lasted from a few minutes to a few hours, and when the child accepted the situation, he simply turned to independent play?
Suddenly, he knew how to have fun.
Your child grabs a doll, a cube, a little car and gently returns to his little creative world.
Turn games and cartoons into an advantage.
Encourage your child to spend time drawing Anna and Elsa, make a cardboard racetrack, and so on.
Believe me, kids will spend hours enriching the road, making a little village on the ground, and you can only look forward to the time they spend on the game.
An idle parent won’t leave his child to the mercy of free time, but will have something to stimulate the imagination.
That’s why while you’re idle, think of something to nudge them along – quietly prepare a surprise bag with things, toys, accessories, from which they’ll have fun all on their own!