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.
TV was on all weekend and I was asleep
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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 1.5yo were both cuddled up on me on the recliner and out of nowhere, baby girl cracked a mischievous smile and roared at me. A cute, gentle roar that I pretended to be afraid of (minimal effort, just tucked my face into my shirt with a faint “aaa”) When I hid from her roar she cackled with glee. My son, always up for a game, instantly joined in with his own little “RARRR” and when I hid again in my shirt, they both belly laughed so hard… …as if I had done the funniest thing in the world! But I didn’t. I simply let them have the power dynamic in this little game of being the fierce scary ones while I was the little weak scared one. And let me tell ya, I still felt like doo-doo… but them laughing together like that was healing. And it was just a little moment, but it was my favorite part of the whole weekend. My invitation for you this week: Don’t underestimate the power of a tiny moment of playfulness. Those tiny moments add up over time in a big way. 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.
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...
I posted a video on Instagram before I went to bed Sunday night and woke up to THOUSANDS of comments on it… As I briefly skimmed through, I started laughing so hard (but trying to stifle the laughter because all the kids — yes, ALL — were in our bed) I nudged Steve and pointed for him to read some too and we were both giggling so hard. The video was my stepdaughter and me playing one of our favorite games where we tell a story one word at a time (trading off each word) but we were making up a...