The biggest parenting mistake of all time: not letting your kids play independently. Yep. And I'm living my mistake. I literally just had to threaten my kids with giving their toys away if they didn't go play with them.
We just had Christmas, and let me tell you, my kids did not suffer. One would think they would want to play with their new toys. Nope. You're in the kitchen? I'll be in the kitchen too. Dad, can you chase us? Mom, can we play a family game? Sounds cute, right?! It stops being cute after 71 months of constantly playing with my child(ren). Don't get me wrong, I love a good family game with my kids, but I also love when they can play independently and I can sit down for 15 minutes to finally watch the Vikings play a normal game.
Obviously my claim to the biggest parenting mistake is in jest, but in all seriousness, independent play in children has huge benefits. These benefits include:
Creativity. Solo play means kids have to come up with their own ideas!
Problem-solving. They are in charge of solutions to problems.
Learning themselves. Without having interaction with others, kids really get a sense for who they are and what they're good at.
Confidence. Think of how confident they'll be when they figured something out all by themselves!
Enhances emotional stability. They have the quiet time they need to decompress and recharge without others around them.
As a new parent all we want to do is be around our kid and make sure they know they are loved. Trust me when I say, though, there will be a day when you just need your kids to get the hell away from you and play by themselves. If you've spent your whole parenting career saying yes everytime they ask you to play, you're not fostering independent play. It sounds like a total bitch move to say no to your kid when they ask you to play, I get it, but they need you to say no as much as you need to say no. (Been a rough day around here, can ya tell?! 😜)
Since we're on the topic, here are some additional things I suggest you teach your kids early on (speaking from failure to do so myself):
Moms do not need help from their children to go to the bathroom.
Dad is also fully capable of wiping their butt.
The middle of the night is not an appropriate time to wake mom up to tell her that you want eggs for breakfast.
There is more music out there than "that one song from Lyle".
Whining is the most annoying sound in the world (sorry, Lloyd)
You can be a present parent AND say no to playing with your kids occasionally. Do it for me, do it for your kids, do it for your sanity.
You can't fill from an empty cup!
