20 Jun How do YOU harness the power of play?

I hid in my room tonight while my children ate dinner.

Why? Because for the hour prior to that, our home was filled with the sounds of unkindness at various volume levels, from normal, to maximum screaming for effect, including one unholy growl and a very loud “Shut up!”

Now, aside from the sin nature my precious children were born with, the source of all this unholy squabbling was easily identifiable.

THE TELEVISION.

Normally our house rules are as follows: No TV during the week, Friday night movie night, then Saturday morning cartoons. But it’s the last week of school, we are all exhausted, it was thundering outside, and they had cheerfully (for the most part) spent an hour and a half cleaning up in the basement. So we put on a show and I went to fix dinner. Fast forward to 45 minutes later and the epic group meltdown of all meltdowns.

The thing is, my children fight less when they interactively play together with a minimum of stuff.

My children fight less outside.

They fight less when I walk away and force them to use their own devices to come up with hours of games and stories to hold their attention.

A pox on screen time!

I am a blogger and freelance writer … screens hold a complicated spot in the thread of our days and we are actively working to reduce our exposure and dependence on them. Did you know that according to the NIH, most American children spend about 3 hours a day watching TV. Added together, all types of screen time can total 5 to 7 hours a day.

I could focus on the myriad of statistics and studies (and there are many!) denoting how bad screen time is for developing brains, but I just want to take a minute, momma to momma to tell you about the power of play. What they are doing when they aren’t watching a screen and squabbling over who gets to choose the next show.

My boys make dinosaur families, creating office spaces and take your (dino) son to work day. My daughter makes bracelets, and reads books about Ramona Quimby because she is finally reading through all the classics I have been stashing in her bookshelf. There are approximately thirty-seven hundred thousand stuffed dogs in our playroom that have served as the actors in all manner of productions.

They get off the bus exhausted and cranky and picking at each other and I send them outside in the green space we deliberately chose and the sounds change to laughing, screaming (from joy this time), and wild, imaginative games. They mix up nutritious, delicious, garbage stew and gleefully carve out giant mud holes in the yard. There is the occasional knockdown drag out over whose turn it is to use the hose, but those matters are quickly settled, and usually I just ignore them until they work it out anyway. There are hammocks to flip over and dams to build and holes to dig … important work to be done.

Work that will never get done if they are glued to a television screen, choosing one-sided entertainment over being kind to their siblings. I can often be heard whisper-yelling Ephesians 4:32 at my children –  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you – that is the standard I hold my children (and myself to) but as so often is the case, we fall short. ESPECIALLY when the TV is involved.

How do you play?

What do your babies do when they play? Do you know? And dear mama friends, please know I am whispering to you from a place of solidarity. This is a daily battle in our home, and one I don’t always win. There are more days than I care to count where I hired the TV babysitter and hid under my covers in defeat. You will get no judgement from me, only encouragement to set down the screens and harness the power of play.

Happy Summer of 17. Fill it with joy.

~M.