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.
This gave me hope
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I was working upstairs the other day when I got a text from my husband, who was downstairs with the kids. It said, “He did this all on his own. Keeps saying, ‘Hope no one eats this when I’m not looking!’” and included a short video. In the video, my son was holding my daughter’s toddler fork with a bite of butternut squash. She was in her highchair, gazing at him. He brings the fork toward her mouth, then looks away, humming casually, as if to say, Nothing to see here! She smiles mischievously and leans in to steal the bite. He turns back, wide-eyed, pretending to be shocked, saying “Huh!?” as she mischievously cackles. This wasn’t something he invented out of nowhere. It’s the very game we’ve played with him since he was a baby: A simple, silly, power-reversal moment where the smaller human gets to feel in charge and the bigger one plays the fool. If a four-year-old can already use play this way to connect, to repair, to bring joy to someone younger and less powerful, it gives me so much hope. Hope that with people like you in the world, homes will start to feel lighter. Hope that children will carry that playfulness into moments of tension, conflict, and repair out into the world. And hope that, one family at a time, we can return to play and build a future that feels a little lighter, warmer, and more connected. My invitation for you this week: Simply take a moment to celebrate yourself for being the kind of parent that actually just read an email about the importance of playfulness in families. That is no small thing, especially with how many emails we all get, you feel me?!! You're crushing it. Cheering you on always, Mia P.S. In case you missed it, here's my new Valentine's freebie! Just tap the link below to download and print!(If you grabbed last year’s Valentine’s resource, this is a new one that has a few of the same games!) MORE FROM PLAYFUL HEART PARENTING: PRE-ORDER FAMPROV: Family improv games for connection! A digital library with demonstration videos, explanations of over 70 improv games to bring you closer together through laughter, creativity. Simple, creative apps + printable card decks with 1400+ prompts that take the brainwork out and put connection and laughter in! Playful strategies for navigating everyday parenting challenges and reducing power struggles. |
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.
My weekend was SICKK (and not in a good way!) Yep, after caring for sick kiddos, the virus finally caught up to my husband and me this past weekend and knocked us on our BOOTANGS, as my friend Angela calls it. TV was working OVERTIME as we literally just tried to make it through and keep our kiddos alive. 😮💨 (SO thankful for power, it’s a mess in Nashville and many STILL don’t have power!!) Was I silly and playful this past weekend? Heckkk NOPE. But there was actually one moment. My 4yo and...
Reasons we've been spiraling over here: Our town was hit with a severe ice storm and we lost power for 12 hours... We are so grateful because so many are still without power in Nashville and are having to seek shelter. To top it off, we’ve got sick kiddos. (like, throw-up sick and I have emetophobia... not fun) And we’re feeling the weight of the world. So last night when my stepdaughter started spiraling about something else entirely, at first I was thinking… “come on, pleeease… everything...
The other day we were alllll grumpy. My husband and I were just kind of missing each other communication-wise, nothing big or bad happened, and nothing was even really "wrong..." but we were just off. The kids' energy was off, too. Things just felt kind of tense. You might be thinking... "Yeah, yeah, I know where this email's goin. Mia used some kind of playfulness or silly game to save the day and bust them all out of the funk..." Noooope! I literally had the conversation in my own mind of...