• HumanBehaviorByBjork [any, undecided]
    ·
    2 years ago

    idk it's good to play with your kids, but also it's important to step back a bit and let them figure stuff out on their own, as long as they know how to come back to you if they need something they can't do for themselves

    • iwasloggedout [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Nah you gotta let them spend 8 hrs getting hungrier while not figuring out how a can opener works

    • SerLava [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      Yeah I don't think anyone here is advocating for just monopolizing your own kids life but like, this article sure isn't talking about that

      • HumanBehaviorByBjork [any, undecided]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        idk i'm reading it and

        I can’t say that my approach is right for everyone. I know that it resonates for me in part because of how I was raised. I have no memories of my parents playing with me. I can remember reading together and their swimming with me in the ocean, but they weren’t involved in the fashion shows I filmed with my sisters, and they didn’t help me make my magazine, Kid Stuff, either. Not once did they dine at my fictional restaurant.
        [...]
        When my kids and I stop doing our own things and come together, it’s because we want to. The activities we do together offer all of us pleasure; we opt in and because of this, we actually have fun. I may not play, but I’m goofy and affectionate, and I love to talk about feelings. I love to teach too: how to count, how to read, how to make guacamole.

        Yeah that's true to my childhood at least. I kind of assumed that's how most millennials grew up. Adults had their adult stuff that they had to do and as long as I didn't get into a fight with my brother I pretty much expected my parents to stay out of my stuff. It's not like there wasn't intimacy or joy, they just didn't play.

        • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          yeah the parent doesn't have to act like one of the children to spend quality time with them and frankly I don't think children want them to either

        • ssjmarx [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          they just didn’t play

          I mean, I can see this point of view, but some of my best memories as a kid are playing board games with my mom. She left me alone a lot but she also would shoot BB guns with me, go bike riding, stuff like that. There's definitely a place for "playing" with kids but I think that maybe the article title implies and what the author is talking about are two different things.