I love bringing them places/ having adventures. I hate sitting on the floor playing board games/ legos/ kid stuff. I enjoy showing them what the adult world is like. They love it too. But they still want me to be a sit on the floor auntie. I don't think I'm both.
Most enjoy: reading, cooking/baking, taking walks (hiking with slightly older kids), LEGOs, some kinds of art/craft projects, bedtime/naptime, singing (particularly in the dark around a fire while people play guitar), school/camp/daycare pickups, board games/card games
Mixed: “playing outside”, playing pretend
Least enjoy: being responsible for kids around water (I spent my career in the summer camp world, and I am so hyperaware and hyper vigilant that I cannot turn off my risk management brain.)
I really love pickups because it's so sweet to see the kid running up to you for a hug, and then to debrief the day on the way home. It's very legitimizing for me as an Auntie, and also just so often so darn sweet.
As an educator pre-children , pre-motherhood or auntie hood, I realized that when I was with children I simply enjoyed being with their flexibility and honesty. I reveled in their gut level laughter, their ability to accept and laugh at my flaws, their endless questions!
This did not change when I later took on the roles or mother and auntie, it only grew with my understanding that I needed to be as honest with my feelings and needs as children are. Children continue to be my mentors for staying in touch with my humility and my soul. If I find myself not able to do or be anything, I learn from children that their unconditional love makes it ok for me not to do or be. I do , however, know when to be the adult… take on bringing awareness to boundaries and take responsibility for safety and invite rich experiences we can all enjoy.
I love the open discussions I continue to have with the children I now know as adults about what it is to “ pretend, be authentic, be honest, show the myriad of needs and emotions we all share as we struggle or enjoy our lives.
Right now I am being given the opportunity to revisit the memories of cooperative preschool days with my personal children and with the adult children of my adult friends who are no longer living. I love when my adult children and their past preschool friends share stories about their pretending play. They enjoy sharing the power of their play as superheroes or fantastical characters. In their reflections they only acknowledge how the adults around them in their early days simply respected their play, not that these same adults never needed to pretend with them. ☺️
Most enjoy: cooking, decorating biscuits or cakes, making Lego sets, doing jigsaws or puzzles, guessing games, origami, paper planes, reading or listening to stories, banana bowling or other innovative takes on boring games, drawing, colouring and magic painting
Mixed feelings: board games, singing, dancing, playing computer games. All depends on the type of game (short, easy to understand= good; Trivial Disputes/ Monotony = bad) and/or the ability / musicality of the participants
Least enjoy: anything involving water, risky behaviour, jumping or running, painting, messy play, bubbles, balls, playgrounds and (eugh, the worst of all) soft play/ballpits (yuk)
Most enjoy: I'm the rare adult who likes playing pretend although not for hours and hours on end. Building forts. Rough housing. Playground games / games outside. Arts and crafts.
Mixed: telling made up stories. I am a writer so I like making up stories but I have to be in the mood and sometimes the pressure is high to come up with a "funny" story and I can't always deliver.
Oh, yeah. The kids in my life want me to tell them stories all the time, and it's hard to think of something on the spot! For the past couple of years, I've been mostly recounting to them the plots of movies like Jurassic Park, The Princess Bride, The Sound of Music, and so on. It's great.
I like playing pretend too! It’s like a theater game, and I’m a theater kid at heart. It’s also fascinating to watch the world get filtered through whatever context the kids have come up with
I really enjoy going for walks, going to the playground, reading, playing guessing games (like “I’m thinking of an animal that starts with the letter P”) and baking. Oh, and dance parties!
I deeply dislike any kind of arts and crafts, and making forts (shudder).
Recounting your experience of playing "family" - yes, ugh, hate it and this is so helpful I'm going to try it out! Usually I would just try and distract with a suggestion of my own. Often I have to tell my niblings (gender neutral term for children of your siblings) that I simply can't play whatever thing they suggested because I'm not feeling well and they've learned over time to accept that this Aunt is sick a lot and we have to do more low key activities sometimes. I really appreciate the inspiration from the comments too for ideas! Drawing/coloring/guessing games are my new go to!
I'll start us off.
MOST ENJOY: drawing/art projects, reading, playing keepaway on the trampoline, school pickups, telling stories, cooking
MIXED FEELINGS: bedtime (it's soooo sweet but it takes soooo long), watching children's performances
LEAST ENJOY: playing pretend
Nice to notice the list of activities I enjoy is so long!
I love bringing them places/ having adventures. I hate sitting on the floor playing board games/ legos/ kid stuff. I enjoy showing them what the adult world is like. They love it too. But they still want me to be a sit on the floor auntie. I don't think I'm both.
Most enjoy: reading, cooking/baking, taking walks (hiking with slightly older kids), LEGOs, some kinds of art/craft projects, bedtime/naptime, singing (particularly in the dark around a fire while people play guitar), school/camp/daycare pickups, board games/card games
Mixed: “playing outside”, playing pretend
Least enjoy: being responsible for kids around water (I spent my career in the summer camp world, and I am so hyperaware and hyper vigilant that I cannot turn off my risk management brain.)
I really love pickups because it's so sweet to see the kid running up to you for a hug, and then to debrief the day on the way home. It's very legitimizing for me as an Auntie, and also just so often so darn sweet.
As an educator pre-children , pre-motherhood or auntie hood, I realized that when I was with children I simply enjoyed being with their flexibility and honesty. I reveled in their gut level laughter, their ability to accept and laugh at my flaws, their endless questions!
This did not change when I later took on the roles or mother and auntie, it only grew with my understanding that I needed to be as honest with my feelings and needs as children are. Children continue to be my mentors for staying in touch with my humility and my soul. If I find myself not able to do or be anything, I learn from children that their unconditional love makes it ok for me not to do or be. I do , however, know when to be the adult… take on bringing awareness to boundaries and take responsibility for safety and invite rich experiences we can all enjoy.
I love the open discussions I continue to have with the children I now know as adults about what it is to “ pretend, be authentic, be honest, show the myriad of needs and emotions we all share as we struggle or enjoy our lives.
Right now I am being given the opportunity to revisit the memories of cooperative preschool days with my personal children and with the adult children of my adult friends who are no longer living. I love when my adult children and their past preschool friends share stories about their pretending play. They enjoy sharing the power of their play as superheroes or fantastical characters. In their reflections they only acknowledge how the adults around them in their early days simply respected their play, not that these same adults never needed to pretend with them. ☺️
Most enjoy: cooking, decorating biscuits or cakes, making Lego sets, doing jigsaws or puzzles, guessing games, origami, paper planes, reading or listening to stories, banana bowling or other innovative takes on boring games, drawing, colouring and magic painting
Mixed feelings: board games, singing, dancing, playing computer games. All depends on the type of game (short, easy to understand= good; Trivial Disputes/ Monotony = bad) and/or the ability / musicality of the participants
Least enjoy: anything involving water, risky behaviour, jumping or running, painting, messy play, bubbles, balls, playgrounds and (eugh, the worst of all) soft play/ballpits (yuk)
Most enjoy: I'm the rare adult who likes playing pretend although not for hours and hours on end. Building forts. Rough housing. Playground games / games outside. Arts and crafts.
Mixed: telling made up stories. I am a writer so I like making up stories but I have to be in the mood and sometimes the pressure is high to come up with a "funny" story and I can't always deliver.
Oh, yeah. The kids in my life want me to tell them stories all the time, and it's hard to think of something on the spot! For the past couple of years, I've been mostly recounting to them the plots of movies like Jurassic Park, The Princess Bride, The Sound of Music, and so on. It's great.
I like playing pretend too! It’s like a theater game, and I’m a theater kid at heart. It’s also fascinating to watch the world get filtered through whatever context the kids have come up with
I really enjoy going for walks, going to the playground, reading, playing guessing games (like “I’m thinking of an animal that starts with the letter P”) and baking. Oh, and dance parties!
I deeply dislike any kind of arts and crafts, and making forts (shudder).
Oh yeah, guessing games! I love a good round of "I'm thinking of an animal."
Most enjoy: playing pretend (I was excited for this from the moment my first niece was born). Dance parties. Bike rides.
Mixed: cooking. It takes so long with kids but I want them to know how to do it
Least enjoy: meal times. So squirrely. So long. So messy.
Recounting your experience of playing "family" - yes, ugh, hate it and this is so helpful I'm going to try it out! Usually I would just try and distract with a suggestion of my own. Often I have to tell my niblings (gender neutral term for children of your siblings) that I simply can't play whatever thing they suggested because I'm not feeling well and they've learned over time to accept that this Aunt is sick a lot and we have to do more low key activities sometimes. I really appreciate the inspiration from the comments too for ideas! Drawing/coloring/guessing games are my new go to!