Sweet and Simple Pretend

  

A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook something about suppertime being such a crazy time at her house and asked for others to share some ideas for how to keep her two little boys occupied while she prepared the meal.  As I read that and the responses, it was a great reminder that sometimes simple is best.  In our age of instant access and thousands of choices, I think it's easy for parents to lose sight of the simple little ways our kids will play, if we as adults don't clutter it up.  

In some ways, I think we as adults are so used to the busyness and multi media frenzy of life that we find ourselves easily bored.  (Can you say "Yes, I like to watch tv while surfing the Internet?"  How guilty I am of wanting that multi tasking, on demand, mindless entertainment.)  

And so we put that on our kids too.  We expect that they need lots of toys or at least something really novel to entertain them.  And we forget that to them, it's all pretty novel.  

There is joy in a kid sized clothesline, clothespins, and random clothing items.  

And all that is needed for construction work is a mish mash of hats, gloves, and a few plastic tools.  

I love the stage my kids are at with their play.  They spend large chunks of time together, with no adult interaction, just playing pretend.  Construction workers, chefs, teachers, doctors, parents, ballerinas, super heros...just sweet, innocent, simple pretend.