Play Theraphy with the Child (Activities)

Come to think of it, the full tme job of a child is play.
So as a parent, to build bond with your child, the best way is probably by becomng his/her "collegue"...

So lets find out more about "play theraphy", the benefits and what are some activities we as parents can do with our children.

Here are some benefits of playing:

1) Reduce Stress
2) Teaches child social awareness
3) Provides Physical Exercise for the child
4) Simulates Creativity and Problem Solving

Some activities

1) Motor Skills
Art and craft (using scissors, drawing, painting, puzzles etc.)

2)Building Activities
Wooden Blocks, legos, cars etc

3) Transportation
Riding, cycling, skating

4) Music
Songs, dance, instrument

5)Fantsay Play
Toys, figurines

6) Nurturing Play
Role Play, imitating

7) Gross Motor activities
Soccer, throwing bean bag, softball

8) Animals
Plat fetchm careful rough horsing

9)Hobbies
Science, collecting

10) Board Games

11) Solitary Play
Pencil and paper, ,mazes

12) Social Play
Play with other children

It will be my goal to spend 15min of quality time and i can use this list to give me inout when i run out of ideas.

Teaching My Son the Joy of Giving

Today, my wife and i had an idea.

It was the last session of shicida class for our son Tian Le and since it was near to Christmas, we decided to prepare some presents for him to give to his classmates and sensei.


When he gave the present out, we could see the amount of joy he received as the adults around smiled at him and praise him.
This will be one of our first attempts to link pleasure to giving and sharing for him.

Imagine him growing up to be a helpful and generous person. It will create a life that endears him to many and the amount of respect and love he develops for people around will also escalate.

Quality Time with My Son

I have been revieiwng my 2008 times and realised that I would like to spend more quality time with my son.

of course, everyone has different rules on what consitute quality time and my personal definition is would be that times where we either:

1) Build bond through shared activities.
2) Learning and Developing Together.

As such, my goal this year is to spend at least 15min of quality time everyday.

15min? that sound so litlle. To me, it is a way of getting me to start. f i were to set a goal say, 1hour everyday and i know that i do not have a hour, chances are that i will even start. But if i were to spend 15min, chances are i will always have 15min and this 15min will likely strecth to hours.

Personally, i am rather against watching TOO MUCH TV. From "Family First", one of the pledge the author had taken as a father struck me and it was this," I will not ALLOW the TV to babysit my children".

That is one of the faults i felt i had commited as i keep rushing from events to events and spend insufficient time with my son, loving and learning with him.

In my next post, i will come up with a list of activities which i deem as quality time with my son.