I’m a mom, stepmom, and theatre educator helping exhausted parents access their inner creative playfulness for more connection and joy. No messy crafts, complicated setups, or sensory bins here! Just simple, silly moments that bring your family back together through laughter. My short weekly emails share reflections from real life and a simple invitation you can try for yourself or with your kids.
Our first "fan" art??
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In case you missed it... a couple months back I shared a video of my stepdaughter and me playing our favorite game: "One Word Commercial," where we make up a fake commercial on the spot, trading off every other word. It ended being about ointment for an itchy butt... but with lots of disastrous side effects. The video went viral, with folks chiming in with their own playful comments and excitement to try this with their own families (yay!!) (If you want to watch it after you read the rest of this email here's the link to it on Instagram) Yesterday, I got a message from someone who said they turned that video into a comic, just for fun, and it made me chuckle out loud as I stopped to look at it between wiping butts, getting snacks, and trying not to trip on Magnatiles... Warning: It's even grosser in comic form, so feel free to skip if potty humor is not your thing: She gave me permission to share, but when I asked how she'd like to be credited, she said, "No thanks. You can just keep it anonymous. I just did it for fun!" Wow. I stopped for a second to think about that. As someone in the social media world... somebody not wanting credit for something is rare! In fact... someone just doing something for fun itself seems rare! It made me smile... fun inspiring fun. For the sake of fun! I don't have any hard "rules" when it comes to playful parenting except one: Prioritize fun for the sake of fun (not for compliance or for an agenda). There are lots of reasons for this, but the main one is that true connection and joy come from play just for play's sake, rather than only using it to get our kids to do things. (There are other reasons too... like when play backfires because we were really just using it as a trick!) All this to say, this person reminded me to take my own advice this week and try to do something fun just for the sake of FUN. I don't know what that's going to be yet... but I'm excited to find out. My invitation for you this week: Join me! Make it a goal to do one small thing just for the sake of fun this week. It could be so small, like drawing a silly little doodle on a post-it note, trying to moonwalk, or even just singing in the shower (come to think of it... I can't even remember the last time I did that, and I'm a singer!!) If you do this, please reply and let me know. I'll do a happy dance for you!! Cheering you on always, P.S. Final Reminder: I'm so excited to speak at StepmomCon 2026 this week! -- it's a FREE virtual conference that supports stepmoms. I'm speaking on the importance of playfulness, but there are LOTS of other experts that I'm looking forward to learning from, too. If you are a stepmom and want to tune in, or if you know a stepmom and want to share with them, TAP HERE to be reminded and tune in when the conference goes live April 22nd! MORE FROM PLAYFUL HEART PARENTING: Family improv games for connection! A digital library with demonstration videos plus printable guide of fun improv games to bring you closer together through laughter and creativity. Simple, creative apps + printable card decks with 1400+ prompts that take the brainwork out and put connection and laughter in! Core playful strategies for navigating tasks, routines, transitions, and everyday parenting challenges. Private podcast access + included private community. |
Playful Heart Parenting
I’m a mom, stepmom, and theatre educator helping exhausted parents access their inner creative playfulness for more connection and joy. No messy crafts, complicated setups, or sensory bins here! Just simple, silly moments that bring your family back together through laughter. My short weekly emails share reflections from real life and a simple invitation you can try for yourself or with your kids.
The other night, when I was fatigued and had a sore throat, my stepdaughter (10) said, “Hey. You’re not happy. Let’s play a game.” Ohhh that made my heart so happy that she noticed this and wanted to play to cheer me up with a game—our favorite way to connect! 🥹 AND, I didn’t know if I had much capacity to even talk… and most of our favorite games require a bit of that. My son (4) then said, “I know what we should play!” and he ran over with a piece of paper and pen. “The drawing a person...
I was EXTREMELY grumpy last Friday night… The kids wanted to paint and there’s just something about paint with little kiddos that gets to me if I'm not in the right headspace to manage it. On top of that, 1.5yo little gal kept getting hurt… first her finger got smashed in the door while I was going in and out getting supplies… THEN she somehow busted open the little ice pack for her finger while I was trying to get her dinner and I freaked out that she was going to eat the gel inside and be...
Did Easter sneak up on me? YES. Did I scramble to put this together last night? Also yes! But I’m so excited to print, cut, and pop these prompts into the plastic eggs for some extra fun this weekend. I also really like the idea of not make everything about the candy and little “stuff” that inevitably gets trashed or clutters the house even more. So, if you’re like me and this is sneaking up on your last-minute, here you go!! Silly prompts and mini-games to hide in the eggs (or just play even...