Posts Tagged ‘imaginative play’
What Are You Thinking Allowing Him To Wear A Dress
We sat on the couch in his living room. I hadn’t seen him in ages, so I was trying to catch him up on our life. I showed him photo after photo of our family. Sawyer hitting a baseball off a tee in the backyard. Cooper splashing in a pool. Sawyer holding his fishing pole. Jamie and I drinking beers at a baseball game. Sawyer and his cousin playing dress up. He was smiling and laughing but stopped suddenly. It’s been a while, years and years since this happened,…
Read MoreEncouraging Play with Hasbro and The Autism Project
Play doesn’t come easily for some children. My son Cooper is a perfect example. He is seven years old, on the spectrum and has never played with a toy typically. Playing is so important for brain development, socialization, imagination, etc. I remember filling out evaluation after evaluation before my son was diagnosed and always checking ‘never’ to ‘does he play?’ It was scary and not something we could not fake. Even after years of encouraging and practicing play, we can walk through the toy aisle at Target and he will…
Read MoreI Can't Make Cooper Play
If you follow my blog you know that I have SEVERE anxiety over the fact that Cooper won’t play with me. Sounds funny, right? Case and point. We went to a friends cabin over Memorial weekend. Totally laid back with zero expectations. Our friend has 2 little kids so we knew we were in good company. Cooper spent most of the weekend in the back of our Yukon watching movies. It was really hard to watch. The other kids played outside the whole time. They played with squirt guns and…
Read MorePlaying Pretend is Silly Mom
There are so many things I didn’t know before this whole special needs journey started. Things I don’t want to know actually. For example, I never knew the importance of imaginative play. Let me rephrase that. I knew the importance of imaginative play but I did not know that some people don’t have it. Or that when you don’t have it you really struggle to occupy your mind. I’ve always had a huge imagination. I pretty much play everything out in my head before it actually happens. True story. I have made…
Read More