quick clicks

preschoolers today articles

preschoolers today q&a

children today articles

children today q&a

community & groups

research baby names

prepare a birth plan

content channels

ip channel rss feeds

read birth stories

read parenting stories

recommended books

e-newsletters

safety recalls

ip diaries

ip store

mom of the month

dad of the month

editor's letter

letters to the editor

Single Moms Balancing Work and Play at Home

The Art of Five-Minute Parenting

By Katerie Prior

A licensed psychologist, a fellow of the Society for Research in Child Development and author of numerous books including, Playtime Learning Games for Young Children (Syracuse University Press, 1982), Honig stresses that parents need to play. "When parents sit in front of a computer for hours, they're telling their child that their work is more important than they are. That can be very harmful."

Even if parents sit down to play, many find it difficult to focus on cars, dolls or blocks when a deadline looms. As a work-at-home mom, Deborah Shelton juggled her writing career with raising a child. One afternoon when she was working, her son, Kizer, kept asking her to play. "Out of nowhere, he asked if we could go camping," she says. When she told him "maybe this weekend," he began to cry. "There was no way I could stop working and whisk him away to a campground. But I definitely had time to take a short break."

Within minutes, Shelton and her son transformed their living room into an indoor campsite. "It was exactly what he wanted," she explains. "A couple of sheets, sofa cushions, a flashlight and some time with Mom was all he needed."

While Kizer got his mother to play, Shelton had the impetus for The Five Minute Parent: Fun & Fast Activities for You and Your Little Ones (Bayou Publishing, 2002).In this book, she compiles short activities for parents and kids to do together. While many are designed to teach as well as entertain, all help parents find meaningful ways to play with their kids. "Playtime with our children shouldn't be something that gets put off until later," says Shelton. "Once I realized that, I knew that other parents would need help taking advantage of small blocks of time with their little ones."

Want to see more?

• Working Single: How These Moms Cope With Minimal Help

Post As:
Enter your comment below:
Title
Comment Text
CAPTCHA
Please note that any comments submitted become the property of Disney Family / iParenting and can be edited and posted at our discrection.