Bored Playing With My Child

Dear Bored Mother,

You have become your daughter’s playmate; you are pretending to be another child. Bring an older child to play with her and don’t participate in their play. Read my answers to similar questions on the Mothering site: http://mothering.com/search/node/playmate%20%22naomi%20aldort%22

In addition, you may want to “wean” your child from her expectation that you are her playmate.

Play with her, but not as a puppet in her game. Pretend games among children involve the imagination and decisions of both children. Play with your daughter games in which she is not a commando in chief of your body. Having power over you is too much for her. Play what you enjoy playing and invite her to join some of the activities you like. 

Start asking her to do her own things side by side with you for very short duration. You can do gardening while she plays next to you. Or, she can watch you dance to music or play an instrument while doing her own thing. 

 If you find it hard to change your ways due to her commanding habit, I suggest that you book yourself a phone session with me. I will then help you find the source of your inability to be a leader in your child’s life and regain your clarity about when to play and when to assert yourself. You can register for a phone session here: http://naomialdort.com/guidance.html

Warmly, Naomi Aldort, http://authenticparent.com/