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.
Stealing this idea from my friend Jen
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I have a new, wonderful friend named Jen. We met in person here in Nashville at our mutual friend Eli’s book tour stop (shout out @attachmentnerd and her awesome new book!!), and Jen and I had one of these moments: We bonded immediately over our love for improv, fart humor, being stepmoms, and just general jolly weirdness. A few days later, she texted me that she was having her weekly “inner child date” and was using my new “What Should We Doodle” app (part of the PHP app bundle). She then uploaded them to the app gallery and they were amazing: (Yes, she is an actual artist, but that’s not the point!) The point is, she specifically sets aside time each week to intentionally do something with “Little Jen.” Not for the sake of productivity, but for the sake of slowing down and connecting with her inner child. As Jen puts it: “It’s about anchoring yourself into the physical realm and finding joy in the small things just like kids do.” It’s not always doodling, sometimes it’s looking at a Where’s Waldo book or making a kaleidoscope! My invitation for you this week: Have an inner child date with yourself - even if it’s super-quick or while you’re with your own kids. Maybe it replaces five minutes of scrolling! If you are like me and you do well with assignments, here’s a quick doodle you can do for fun: “A shy rhino getting splashed by a whale that just jumped out of the sea” (Please send me your doodle if you do this!) Cheering you on always, Mia 💞 MORE FROM PLAYFUL HEART PARENTING: The best improv games for family connection! Prompt-based games and easy, silly moment ideas (1500+ prompts and counting!) 11 core strategies for using play as a tool for more ease and joy in parenting. |
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.
Yesterday while I was on a call upstairs, my stepdaughter (10) ran up and said, “Mia, look! My nose changed” She was grinning, holding up a wrinkly piece of skin-colored clay that she’d shaped into a fake, pointy witch-looking nose. “Yes!! Put a wart on that thing, poke two holes in the side, and throw it in the oven. I’ll add string to it for you so you can wear it!” I said excitedly. She was thrilled. Several hours later, we put the finishing touches on her freshly baked witch nose and were...
My sis and her partner were here this past weekend and as usual there were lots of laughs.(If you’ve seen our FAMPROV videos… you know exactly the vibe!) Yesterday on the drive home from a park, my son (4) asked to play “Plot Twist” - making up a story together using prompts from my app.It ended up being one of my favorite little parts of the whole visit, because “Aunt Naddy” and “Tuncle” (tío + uncle) are professional improv performers and just so happen to be endlessly creative, hilarious,...
I recently got back into doing at-home dance workouts. Aside from walking, this is truly the only form of exercise I enjoy, and it’s been YEARS. Why do I love it so much? Because it’s fun, challenging in an enjoyable way, and brings back a big part of myself (the performer part)! But what I didn’t expect to happen was for it to become a new bonding activity for me and my 10yo stepdaughter! Surprisingly, she’s taken an interest in doing the dance workouts with me when she’s here, and I have to...