Play Their Games
It may seem obvious that we need to play their games when we play with our children, but it’s sometimes not easy to get into that mindset. I don’t know if it’s just me or if it’s common among fathers, but I remember feeling like I could not teach my girls anything when they weren’t old enough to understand me, or so I thought.
I can hear the mothers telling me that my girls did understand me and if I would only play their games, I would have seen that. I know, I know! Today, I realize that, but I think it might be natural for a young parent to feel that way at first. Today, I remember how amazed I was back then and I continue to be amazed with my younger daughters!
Read and Educate Yourself
I read a lot and listened to a lot of audio books on the subject of parenting and relationships over the years. Such as John Gray‘s Children are from Heaven and Gary Chapman’s The Five Love languages as well as the audio books I mention in the Praise Your Children blog post.
There are also tons and tons of parenting sites on the Internet that can help you find games so you can play their games and they will love you for it. Of course, you can’t be playing only their games all the time, they also much learn some independence and you need your adult time too.
The point of this post is simply to remind young parents that even though young children do not understand adults the way adults understand other adults, it doesn’t mean they don’t fully understand you. You’d be amazed at how well my daughter understands everything I say to her in French even though her mother talks to her in English and she doesn’t (yet) respond to me in French… you’d swear she is a perfect bilingual…. it’s amazing what kids understand and learn.
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