turning toward your child
Schuyler
This is the kind of thing I was describing, the turning toward a child. I'm
posting it from Always Learning so some will have seen it there. It's the
pushing away of the other things that rise into your mind. The lists of things
that you need to do, the what am I going to do about dinner questions.
daughter asked me to play Polly Pockets with her. At first, I was
bored to tears with the idea of playing Polly Pockets but, I found
that I enjoyed myself and she felt filled up faster when I put 100%
into playing Polly Pockets with her the way SHE wanted me to play. I
dropped any agendas I may have had running through my head and
immersed myself in her imaginary world as best as I could. If I
wasn't saying the right words for my Polly Pocket, I asked my daughter
to tell me what to say long enough that I understood the theme of her
imagination that day. She liked to repeat themes - often we played
that our dolls were sisters who's mom had left us home alone together.
We talked about fashion and boys and going to parties. I had to
intentionally push out thoughts like - What am I going to fix for
dinner? It was almost like a type of meditation to be able to focus so
completely on my daughter's play and desire to have me with her.
As with so many other needs, I found that when I was able to meet this
need of hers and fill her up with my focused attention doing what she
wanted, she would soon enough be ready to play on her own and I was
excused to go do whatever I wanted. Sometimes, I wanted to stay and
play - I was enjoying listening to the inner-workings of her
imagination and we were having fun together!
Polly Pocket playing happened when Zoe was 4,5,6 & 7 ish if I remember
correctly, maybe up to age 9. She's 13 now and she still has a big box
of dolls and accessories under her bed that she never plays with but I
haven't wanted to store them in the basement or give them away or sell
them because that box of dolls reminds me of so many happy times with
her.
Just last night, she was excited to receive and play a new video game
-- she LOVES Little Big Planet 2! It's a single or multi-player game
depending on how you want to play it. You can play online with others
if you want. She was wanting to play solo last night so that she
could explore it's features thoroughly without interruption. She kept
turning down her online friends' invites to join them or requests to
let them join her! However, she didn't want to be alone as she
experienced this long-awaited excitement! So, I sat in the living
room while she played. I read my email or played my own games (Plants
vs. Zombies thanks to Sandra!) on my iPad while she played and I was
able to pause what I was doing whenever she wanted me to pay more
attention to some new, fantastic feature of the game that she was
playing.
My point is that the more present you can be for your daughter now the
better connected you will feel to her in the future. Sharing her
life, thoughts, interests and fun with you is probably the most
important way for her to connect with you and the time you invest in
meeting her need for your participation in her play and activities now
will payoff down the road when she's older and more capable of
entertaining herself without your help. And, you might just find that
playing Polly Pockets is kind of fun!
Chris in IA
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
posting it from Always Learning so some will have seen it there. It's the
pushing away of the other things that rise into your mind. The lists of things
that you need to do, the what am I going to do about dinner questions.
> *** I really want to have fun playing with my daughter with thisI really like how Bob put it. That's pretty much what I did when my
> thing that she really loves, but I'm having such a hard time! Does
> anyone have suggestions on how I can learn to like playing with
> dolls? Or maybe how to support her interest and be actively involved
> with her when it's not something I'm really interested in?***
> Bob Collier wrote: *** Close my eyes. Imagine my daughter. She's
> having fun. I love to see my daughter having fun. It feels good. Oh,
> and I'm there too. I'm having fun. I love to see me having fun. That
> feels good. My daughter's having fun. I'm having fun. What a
> wonderful feeling! Now I'm looking closer in my imagination to see
> what it is we're doing that's so much fun. We're playing with Polly
> Pockets. Open my eyes.***
daughter asked me to play Polly Pockets with her. At first, I was
bored to tears with the idea of playing Polly Pockets but, I found
that I enjoyed myself and she felt filled up faster when I put 100%
into playing Polly Pockets with her the way SHE wanted me to play. I
dropped any agendas I may have had running through my head and
immersed myself in her imaginary world as best as I could. If I
wasn't saying the right words for my Polly Pocket, I asked my daughter
to tell me what to say long enough that I understood the theme of her
imagination that day. She liked to repeat themes - often we played
that our dolls were sisters who's mom had left us home alone together.
We talked about fashion and boys and going to parties. I had to
intentionally push out thoughts like - What am I going to fix for
dinner? It was almost like a type of meditation to be able to focus so
completely on my daughter's play and desire to have me with her.
As with so many other needs, I found that when I was able to meet this
need of hers and fill her up with my focused attention doing what she
wanted, she would soon enough be ready to play on her own and I was
excused to go do whatever I wanted. Sometimes, I wanted to stay and
play - I was enjoying listening to the inner-workings of her
imagination and we were having fun together!
Polly Pocket playing happened when Zoe was 4,5,6 & 7 ish if I remember
correctly, maybe up to age 9. She's 13 now and she still has a big box
of dolls and accessories under her bed that she never plays with but I
haven't wanted to store them in the basement or give them away or sell
them because that box of dolls reminds me of so many happy times with
her.
Just last night, she was excited to receive and play a new video game
-- she LOVES Little Big Planet 2! It's a single or multi-player game
depending on how you want to play it. You can play online with others
if you want. She was wanting to play solo last night so that she
could explore it's features thoroughly without interruption. She kept
turning down her online friends' invites to join them or requests to
let them join her! However, she didn't want to be alone as she
experienced this long-awaited excitement! So, I sat in the living
room while she played. I read my email or played my own games (Plants
vs. Zombies thanks to Sandra!) on my iPad while she played and I was
able to pause what I was doing whenever she wanted me to pay more
attention to some new, fantastic feature of the game that she was
playing.
My point is that the more present you can be for your daughter now the
better connected you will feel to her in the future. Sharing her
life, thoughts, interests and fun with you is probably the most
important way for her to connect with you and the time you invest in
meeting her need for your participation in her play and activities now
will payoff down the road when she's older and more capable of
entertaining herself without your help. And, you might just find that
playing Polly Pockets is kind of fun!
Chris in IA
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
VickiJ
>>>Just last night, she was excited to receive and play a new video game-- she LOVES Little Big Planet 2! It's a single or multi-player game depending on how you want to play it. You can play online with others if you want. She was wanting to play solo last night so that she could explore it's features thoroughly without interruption. She kept turning down her online friends' invites to join them or requests to let them join her! However, she didn't want to be alone as she experienced this long-awaited excitement! So, I sat in the living room while she played. I read my email or played my own games on my iPad while she played and I was able to pause what I was doing whenever she wanted me to pay more attention to some new, fantastic feature of the game that she was playing.<<<This is exactly how we've spent a lot of hours over the past two days. My son was so excited to use some gift cards and cash from his birthday to buy this game as soon as it became available. I love hanging out in the same room, reading this list and other online stuff, pausing to hear him expound on the new stuff this game version can do! It's such a great way to remain connected while each pursuing whatever interests us, and both are willing to pause our own activity to be shown something cool the other has discovered.
Vicki in Vegas
Joyce Fetteroll
> she LOVES Little Big Planet 2!I thought I had seen that name!
Sony and DeviantART are running a contest challenging people to design
their own level for the game.
http://news.deviantart.com/article/141527/
Even if kids aren't interested in entering the contest -- there are no
age divisions -- there are "assets" from the game to download there:
characters, planets, stickers, textures, level examples that could be
fun to play around with. Here's a piece of the description. More at
the website:
> We�ll give you official assets from the game which you're free toJoyce
> either use in your entry or just use as inspiration. Whether your
> entry is completely digital, a clay sculpture, or even a collage
> from paper print-outs, the visual medium of your entry is up to you!
>
> Levels will be judged on Creative Use of the Assets Provided, Sense
> of Fun, and Technical Skill. Don�t let Sackboy and his friends miss
> out on the awesome level you can create!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
lalow
my son wants that game, he has asked about it several times but we dont have a PS3. cant get one soon either, we just got the xbox.
--- In [email protected], Joyce Fetteroll <jfetteroll@...> wrote:
>
> > she LOVES Little Big Planet 2!
>
> I thought I had seen that name!
>
> Sony and DeviantART are running a contest challenging people to design
> their own level for the game.
>
> http://news.deviantart.com/article/141527/
>
> Even if kids aren't interested in entering the contest -- there are no
> age divisions -- there are "assets" from the game to download there:
> characters, planets, stickers, textures, level examples that could be
> fun to play around with. Here's a piece of the description. More at
> the website:
>
>
> > We'll give you official assets from the game which you're free to
> > either use in your entry or just use as inspiration. Whether your
> > entry is completely digital, a clay sculpture, or even a collage
> > from paper print-outs, the visual medium of your entry is up to you!
> >
> > Levels will be judged on Creative Use of the Assets Provided, Sense
> > of Fun, and Technical Skill. Don't let Sackboy and his friends miss
> > out on the awesome level you can create!
>
>
> Joyce
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
BRIAN POLIKOWSKY
We got the PS3 for my son for Christmas because of Little Big Planet. He had
gotten his X-Box for his birthday just 6 months earlier.,
,He helped by saving money and paying at least half of it,
Alex Polikowksy.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
gotten his X-Box for his birthday just 6 months earlier.,
,He helped by saving money and paying at least half of it,
Alex Polikowksy.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]