Find Time to Play with Your Children

I find it impractical for parents to buy expensive toys for their children especially if one is a middle class earner who only lives from paycheck to paycheck. Since the kids’ attention span is short, they easily get bored with a toy. After five minutes or so, if they see another stuff that is interesting to them, they would not think twice to drop what they’re holding. So where does your expensive toy go? Around somewhere… ignored.

As a solution, parents may opt to be creative in crafting alternatives without putting a hole in their pockets. They just need to introduce their handmade toy to their kids, and act as if they were amazed with what it can do. The children will definitely match their parents’ “excitement.” After all, no costly toy can beat a parent-child interaction amidst quality time.

I used to bring my son at work whenever his nanny leaves. I have observed that even if I stuff my bag with some of his toy cars, these would not be enough. So what I do is to think of playful activities that he can do in the office to make him busy. This way, I could continue to work with my tasks while he plays on the side.

I used to create a bowling set out of my collected empty mineral water bottles which I asked from my office mates. There were several times as well that I created toy airplanes and boats out of scratch papers. As time passed, my son learned how to amuse himself alone by making toys on his own. He even created amateur video tutorials on how to play with his self-made toys.

Creating a Miniature House Out of a Used Carton Box

Playing is a brain stimulant. When your child plays, his or her senses work and creativity also develops. It is even one of my techniques when reviewing my son at home, especially whenever I notice that he is being lazy to study. It was through play that I was able to make him memorize his piece for their moving up stage presentation, his short story presentation for his English class, and his many other memorization activities for school.

The video below shows the flip chart I made for him even if it's not required by his teacher.

I cannot reiterate further how important it is for parents to be creative when teaching their kids. This entails that they really have to spare time for the children.

Having a first-hand experience on the benefits of playing virtually “no cost” toys with a child, my daughter now experiences the same.