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 drawing game that turned my night around
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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 game!” And so we did. Without letting each other see what we were drawing, we took turns drawing a little bit of a person, starting from the head, then folding the paper back to only show a little bit of what we’d done so the next person can add on a bit. Here’s what it looked like when we unfolded it… A HUGE laugh burst out of me that I didn’t even know I was capable of with how crummy I’d been feeling. Then my son shouted, “It looks like Pinocchio’s sister!!!” which made me laugh even harder! 🤣 I needed that laugh SO badly. It brought me back to life a little. And I had my kids to thank, completely. My invitation for you this week:
Cheering you on always, P.S. Reminder: I'm so excited to speak at StepmomCon 2026 -- 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! Audio course + included private community: Core playful strategies for navigating tasks, routines, and everyday parenting challenges. |
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...