Parents Need Fun Too! ~ Mary Dravis-Parrish

A mother who joined one our parent chats reported that when she asked her 7-year-old son if she needed any parenting advice, he said, “Well duh, we need to have more play time.”

Have more play time. Sounds simple enough. But as we grow up, we are strongly encouraged to “get serious” about life and we lose the PLAY and the importance of making life fun.

The mother above is the parent of a child who lives for play, fun, creativity and socializing. She wanted to explore new ways to help her son become more cooperative in getting his chores done. What if it begins with the parent? What would happen if kids could see parents doing the most mundane chore and having fun while doing it? Would the kids see that chores don’t need to be mundane and boring? For some kids this is their nature and being true to their nature while they are children will allow them to grow up and be the creative, fun beings that contribute to the world.

This may be a challenge for parents who have not allowed themselves to have fun or to play or it may not be their dominant nature. For those parents, I suggest asking yourself some questions to discover your true nature. If you could play and have fun, would you? Notice how comfortable you feel with that question. Do you ever have the urge to just jump, skip, laugh just to laugh, run, and be carefree? If you are pulled towards that, whether you would allow yourself the luxury of it or not, then you most likely have the nature of fun within you. Is your child the excuse you can use to step into the playground of life?

I have several clients who come to me and tell me that they want to enjoy life, but just can’t allow themselves to have fun. Hmmm… I wonder if they were made wrong for having fun and playing as a child? So often once a child enters school, life becomes very serious and time for play decreases. This stifles the true nature of some children and then they grow up and as adults can’t feel comfortable having fun. They have bought into a belief that having fun isn’t for adults and they feel awkward, but they have a knowing that having fun is what they would like to do.

If you didn’t feel that you pulled into the fun and play but felt a resistance to it, and you are more of the intellectual type, no worries, you don’t have to overdo it in the fun and play area. However, to honor your child’s desire to have fun, you will need to be in allowance of his need for play. There can still be a level of fun that you share with your child. It may be necessary that he have playmates that he can get in his play time with as well.

Parent Challenge: Look at the tasks that you have in front of you right now, what would it take to make it fun to do any of those tasks? Take on a character? I know a woman who makes cleaning her house fun by dressing up in a sexy maid outfit, or at least imagining that she is wearing a sexy maid outfit. Another man who while he cleans the garage puts on his favorite rock-n-roll band. What would work for you? Have fun trying new things. Ask your kids for ideas too!

Mary Dravis-Parrish, Parent Whisperer, Author, Speaker and Host of Be You Parenting radio show devotes her messages to empowering each individual to be all they can be.

Mary Dravis-Parrish has over 25 years of experience as an educator, trainer, empowerment family coach, and speaker.
Mary is dedicated to bringing greater possibilities to family living that allows both parents and children to live life that is true to their inherent uniqueness.

She is the author of Empowered Parents Empowering Kids, A Guide to Be You Parenting.   Her radio show, Be You Parenting on Inspired Choices Radio Network, offers tips and insights for today’s empowered parents. https://www.inspiredchoicesnetwork.com/author/marydravisparrish/

 More tips and information about Mary and her parenting services can be found at https://www.beyouparenting.com/

You can follow Mary on Face Book at https://www.facebook.com/beyouparenting/

And email her at ParentWhispers@gmail.com 

For more about Parenting to the True Nature of your child tune in to this episode of Be You Parenting.

Radio Show Host of  Be You Parenting ~ Mary Dravis-Parrish: https://www.inspiredchoicesnetwork.com/author/marydravisparrish/