It's nice to have a solid sense of self, but pretend is amazing. Riley loves to pretend usually she pretends to make coffee or soup. I think she really enjoys saying "hot!" and having you blow on it. Lately my little chef has taken to picking up her toy phones (she must have at least 10) and yelling "eggs!" into them. Maybe she's expanding the menu? Or maybe she's ordering breakfast, who knows?
I much prefer this game to her angry screaming into the phone that Daddy taught her. Mommy takes the phone and says "oh, hello Elmo!", but Daddy likes to pretend it's a solicitation call and yell "don't you call here!" Guess who Riley imitates. Another pretend game she likes to play lately is wash your hands. She'll bring you whatever bottle is handy and shake a little "hand sanitizer" onto her hands and yours and rub them together and laugh.
She also likes to take a baby wipe and wipe all her baby doll's faces. I guess they're a dirty bunch. So domestic, always cooking, cleaning and taking care of babies. I wonder if she would play this way if I wasn't at home with her?
It's OK soon enough we'll break out Space Camp Barie and play mission to space.
What are your little ones pretending? Do you remember any pretand games from childhood?
I think the adorable domestic imitation is definitely a side effect of having a stay home mommy. My boys love cooking/cleaning games, and scrubbing their loveys' faces and babying them. I guess I never thought much of it from a gendered perspective! The good news is that it's not just a girl thing. :)
ReplyDeleteI cracked up at the toy phones. Does Riley ever use non-phone objects as phones? Julian and Charlie have plenty of actual phone toys, but prefer to use anything else (spatulas, apple slices, TV remotes, etc) like a phone and cheerfully carry out entire conversations with Grandma, Elmo, their unborn baby sister - whoever they feel like talking to at the moment!
I've seen her use shoes as phones, spoons and cars/planes (whatever vehicles come to hand).
ReplyDeleteI remember playing school alot when I was older. I think kids copy what they see.
My son is 6 now but still loves to pretend! Today we wrapped him in a big furry blanket, with a pillow stuffed inside, and he was a big fat bison. He's been playing that since he was 2. I wonder why??? Gotta love it though.
ReplyDeleteMy little 3 year old loves to play pretend. He likes to go on pretend adventures like blast off in a spaceship to the moon, or flying at lightning speed in his racecar. Just yesterday, we went to Disney World again and rode in the Tea Cups and saw Mickey Mouse. Apparently he is still afraid of the "It's A Small World" creepy dolls even when we're playing pretend...go figure!
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Debi, that is too funny! Has he ever played Oregon Trail? That's the first thing I thought of. How do I ford this river without drowning the live stock?!?
ReplyDeleteThose dolls are creepy! They're always getting stuck and staring at you. Getting their annoying song stuck in your head.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was teaching the kids always "drove to Disney World". I had forgotten about that!
Thanks for reading.