Now, let me rephrase this, I play with my kids. Is it therapeutic? I dunno, maybe, probably. But, I have never, not once, sat and done "therapy" with my child. I don't want his days filled with work. He is a baby. He needs exposure, repetition, love and fun stuff to challenge him. Not work, that is what the therapists are for. Let them anger him by making him complete tasks he does not like. I am gonna love my little bugger and just play.
Joseph has never ceased to amaze me. He is fascinating in his abilities. See, there was mom that was soooo stressed over fitting in therapy time daily with her son that she was driving herself bonkers and, maybe, even letting the mommy guilt start to set in. She made a post on babycenter and asked about therapy time at home. I changed her perspective with my answer to simply "Love him and play with him and the rest will come". (this momma is blogging now and you should check her out UpsideDown21)
Honestly, I truly believe no child can be forced, pushed, coerced, or therapied (I just made that word up, do you like it?) into doing anything their body and minds are not ready to accomplish. So, why center my day on working my kids to boredom? Playing is sooo much better. Sure, you can add in specifics for you child so it is still play.
Blow bubbles and encourage speech by saying "POP!" Encourage fine motor skills by working on pointing with that chubby, little, pointer finger to!" those bubbles. And work on gross motor skills by catching a bubble on your bubble wand and putting juuuuust out of reach so they must use their tippy toes to, "POP" that bubble with their pointer finger. OR, if they are not standing, teach them to "POP" that bubble with their feet! LOL
Color! Coloring is great! Do crafts, match shapes, jump, stomp, sing a song from a favorite movie, PLAY!!!!!! That's what we do. And I don't feel one bit of regret or guilt in the path that I have chosen in teaching my kids. Will this work for your family? I dunno, but this is what works for us. And, I don't mind sharing that there is not any directed therapy in this house.
4 comments:
awww christie...you are so great at putting things in perspective.... wish i could be that "laid back"....
thanks for this great post!
Great post! I try very hard not to specifically do "therapy" with my daughter. I play with her and work it in where it fits. Feed her and work it in where it fits. Etc. I also taught my older daughter some things they can do together that they both think is SO fun! It incorporates therapy stuff, but I hardly consider it that when they are both giggling so hard. I honestly felt pressure to push therapy at first, and now I take our therapists every suggestion and file it away in the "where will that fit in to our day" category.
I think you are doing just as good by him as if you were giving scheduled therapy.
This is because you are an amazing mom. You would be surprised by the plain fact that many mothers never get on the floor with their children. This seems like common sense, right? Therapy is also not a part of our lives, but naming all the fruit we put in our grocery cart is, i name it Rozie throws it in. How many therapies did i just cover. I sit on the floor with her and we play we crawl together and have little tea parties where she works very hard to set the cup on the plate, hmmm did i just cover more therapy? I will say this though,when she was a newborn i did do more of the exercises the therapist suggested there were some things i just would of never done on a consistent basis with a newborn that were truly beneficial to her. Enjoy your sweet therapy-free life , you doing a great job mom!
I completely agree with you Christie!
I love your point of view.
Cherie
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