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When I was working as a child and family therapist, one thing I found that parents worried frequently about was the amount of time they spent playing with their children. Many parents felt guilty that they were not spending enough time playing with their children, which would increase their stress levels … In this blog, I want to go over some things for parents to keep in mind about parent-child playtime that may help to reduce stress levels.

Many parents are reluctant to pretend to be someone or something else for fear of looking silly. However, children are usually surprised and delighted when an adult pretends to be someone different. I have found that engaging in role-play by pretending to be a different character is one of the very best ways to gain children’s interest and engage them in play.

As parents, effective communication with our children is crucial for building strong, trusting relationships. One powerful, but often overlooked parenting tool is paraphrasing. By paraphrasing what your children tell you, you are not only enhancing mutual understanding, you are also engaging in many other beneficial practices.

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What is family nature play? There is no formal definition of family nature play, but I like to think of it as any time when children and families are relaxing in, exploring, interacting with, and enjoying any type of natural environment …