Play Skills - Your Child Needs To Be Taught In Order To Learn The Skills Required, And The Benefits Of, The Toys And Activities They Have Available As Well As Handle The Social Challenges

Paul arrives at school and just sits on the floor waiting for someone to tell him what to do.

James arrives and heads toward the toy chest and begins pulling out all the toys and throwing them on the floor.

Ginger arrives and selects a shapes cube, sits on the floor and calls on a teacher to come and put the shapes back in the cube for her.

Dennis has only been here for a month and forgets that he has to entertain himself. Consequently, he takes 1.5 hours and constant reminding that he has to choose his own activity.

Paula’s favorite words are “I can’t”. We have not yet seen her take the initiative to practice any new skill or solve any problem.

Any of those examples have been evident over the years. These are children who are entertained, underestimated, catered to, assisted, and approached with low expectations when they are home.

Parents are automatically assuming that their child learns the skills to:

1. Problem solve.
2. Accomplish several tasks in sequence.
3. Interact successfully with other children.
4. Learn a somewhat difficult skill.
5. Be independent.
6. Develops a longer attention span.
7. Enjoy and thrive on being independent.

Both our role and the parental role is to be a provider and teacher. Parents and teachers are not in the entertainment business when it comes to raising their children.

To Do

Begin the playtime process and the task learning process with half of your time together planned as teaching time, and the other half as child/parent tome. Once a skill has been taught, always observe and allow your child to resolve challenges themselves.

This approach applies to both fine motor skills, gross motor skills and cognitive challenges. Always applaud and encourage independence and persistence. Give them time to apply both mental and physical effort. Don’t jump in the second they hesitate.

When all the child’s caregivers are taking the same approach, results are amazing.

Especially never assist in, or do, a task for your child that you know they can accomplish successfully. You will be giving  the wrong message, eroding their confidence, encouraging their dependence, and generally prevent them from achieving their potential.

You want strong willed independent, skilled, confident children!

Give them the skills and trust they will accomplish their goals.

Good luck!